State of Being

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material in this story that sounds familiar, I own my plot an made up characters.

I stared into the mirror, analyzing the person I saw. Long, waist length, wavy, golden blonde hair matched with a pair of ocean blue eyes. She was skinny, not quite model thin but not chubby either. Her eyes had circles around them, indicating lack of sleep or stress, she was average height. The woman wore a knee length black pencil skirt with a red button up blouse. She wore a matching jacket. She was nothing special in my eyes, although I don't have much self-confidence. The woman's name was Mirabelle Anastasia Keehl.

I was, in fact, running low on sleep. The reason for this is I was in a custody battle, I had just turned eighteen, I had a job, a home, and the income needed to take care of him now. When I was three years old my mother had fallen pregnant with a baby boy, she put him up for adoption right after he was born. I got to hold him once, I named him too. That day, the day my little brother was born, it's the first memory I have.

"Mira, come along, you're Mum's in labor, you're going to have a baby sister!" I shot out of my bed, throwing the pink barbie quilt off of me before running out and into the back seat of the car so I could hold Mummy's hand.

I'd been ushered away from her as they took her to the delivery room, a long time afterwards Aunt Meridith, the one who'd woken me up, came out with a sad look on her face, she was carring a blue bundle.

"It's a boy, Mira, it's a boy...," I smiled brightly and ran up to her as she bent and helped me hold him, "You're Mum said you could name him."

"Really?!" I'd asked happily, Meridith nodded. I smiled an looked at him, all of my family had M names so he had to have on too. If he had been a girl it would have been Micheala, so I could make it similar to that but I didn't like the name Michael, so I tried taking the C out. Mihael Adam Keehl.

"Mihael Adam Keehl, spell it M-I-H-A-E-L A-D-A-M K-E-E-H-L." I spoke to the nurse who was filling out the certificate, she smiled and wrote it down before another nurse picked him up and walked away, I looked at the sign above the hall he went into. The Adoption Ward.

"AUNTY! SHE'S TAKING HIM TO THE WRONG PLACE!" Aunt Meridith shook her head.

"No, Mirabelle, she isn't. Melody wanted two girls. Mihael is a boy... You're Mum doesn't want him." I glared at her and ran after the nurse.

"Miss Nurse, please don't take him! I don't care if Mummy doesn't want to be his Mummy, I'll be his Mummy!" The nurse's eyes looked sad as she bent down, letting me look at him again.

"Sweetie, I know what you're trying to say, but you can't, you're too young... Say goodbye." I was crying silently but I moved towards my brother, his hair obviously the same shade as mine and bent to kiss him on the forehead, he opened his eyes, they were like mine too.

"Bye Bye, Mihael, I love you... I'll be back for you...," I pulled my rosary that I'd been given on my birthday off and put it around his neck.

"Miss Nurse? Please make sure that stays with him...," My aunt was standing behind me, sobbing silently as she watched the exchange.

When we got home later that night Mum had went into the room that would have been Mihael's and trashed it, she screamed about the fact that she'd given birth to a future rotten, evil man. I had yelled that it wasn't true, she spanked me till my backside was sore. Aunt Meridith became distant to everyone but me from then on. I know she kept tabs on him, I also know when she lost track of where he was, because she stopped talking completely. It was ironic that it was her that suffered the most. Shouldn't it have been Mum? Mum, who gave up a precious baby boy simply because he was a boy? My Mum who, after that night, made it as if he had never existed an spanked me when I mentioned him? No, it was Meridith, she blamed herself. I never figured out why, but she did. It was when I was ten that she left, no note or anything. She was found a few weeks later, she'd committed suicide, she also became a forbidden topic. At the age of seventeen I graduated from University, Mum announced that she'd taken care of me well enough and left right after. I worked to become who I am now and I did it in a year. I was now the number one Lawyer in the UK.

About three months ago I hired a private investigator to find my brother, I found him. He had been taken in by Wammy's House and was shortly adopted by the elusive owner of the institution. Today was the final court date, I was also told that Mihael himself had not been told he'd been adopted or that I was fighting for him. This angered me to an extreme extent. Why would you adopt a child and not tell him? What the hell makes that okay?

"Mirabelle?" I looked towards the door to see Emilie Grenner, my 24 year old best friend and attorney for this case, standing there, her black hair pulled into a bun and she wore a black suit, her green eyes slightly covered by glasses.

I smiled and quickly pulled my hair into a professional ponytail as I followed her out to the car. We arrived at the courthouse and went in, seated at a table on the left side of the room. There was no one except the guards and the judge there yet. We sat for five minutes before the doors opened and two people walked in. The first, an elderly man wearing a suit, smiled at me gently, I narrowed my eyes. The second was dressed in a plain white long sleeved t shirt and jeans, he wore white sneakers, he studied me much like I'd studied myself earlier, before taking his seat and sitting in an odd position.

"Well, now that we're all here, please rise." We stood and faced the judge as he went through the introductions. He went through each situation an aspect of our lives before asking for Emelie to speak first.

"As you know, the minor in question here is my client's brother. I believe that this fact needs to be brought to the forefront as I speak. It is my understanding that Mihael does not know he has been adopted, nor does he know about this case?" The one in the t shirt nodded.

"If that is the case, why did you see it right to leave him uninformed about this?" The black haired man spoke.

"Well, it was necessary that he not be taken out of the orphanage for reasons that cannot be revealed, so I adopted him. I did the same with two others...," I glared at the man and turned to the judge.

"Permission to comment, your honor?" He nodded, "I believe that, given the situation, there should be no secrets. If Mr. Wammy cannot give a solid reason, I see nothing that supports his case. Mihael is my brother, I know that in the eyes of the law that means nothing, but if the defendant can not tell me that my brother is in a proper family environment and he is uninformed that he is even adopted then the actual adoption is nonexistent." I took a deep breath and faced the men, "Give me a solid, true reason of why you saw this necessary, if you can give me a good enough reason, I will be willing to lessen my case to visitation rights. If not I will be insisting upon a full custody grant and a restraining order."

Emilie coughed, "Are you sure, Miss Keehl?" I nodded.

"Yes, Mrs. Grenner, I am." She nodded and sat next to me.

"Mr. Wammy, I am going to agree with Miss Keehl, if you cannot give a reason, I will grant her her wishes. I would also ask her now that, in the case of not giving a solid answer, if she would be willing to foster or adopt the other two children involved. Looking here it says their names are Nate River and Mail Jeevas." At this he turned to me, my mind was already made up.

"I would wish to ask both children what they wanted. If they both agreed, I would adopt them." Looking at the two men I noticed that the younger looked surprised and slightly ill, the elder looked very tired and sad. The black haired man replied.

"My reason... Is that I am L." I sat up straight in my seat and stared at the younger .

"Impossible...," He gave me a childish smirk, I was ashamed to admit I found it attractive..

"Actually, very possible. Most would say that you becoming the top lawyer in the UK at seventeen was impossible, but you did." I stood quickly, losing my composure.

"But you look about twenty at the most! L has been active for ten eleven years!" 'L' smirked again.

"I'm nineteen, to tell the truth, and I started my work at the age of eight... The reason I adopted Mihael, Nate, and Mail was because one of them is to become my successor... They had to stay where I could observe their progress and Wammy's House was the best place to do so, it was also where I myself grew up." I sat back down, my jaw hanging to the floor, L smiled, "Miss Keehl, I wish to ask that you become my lawyer as well, you are, in my own mind, the best."

"Wh-What?" He nodded.

"Yes, I had been planning on asking this of you in the first place. This court date just created the perfect setting. If you wish to adopt my successors, you may. I just ask that you make sure they are accessible to me if I need to speak to them, and that should I die that whichever I choose can take over." I looked at Emilie and saw she was just staring into space, like she'd seen a ghost. I snapped her out of it.

"In a case as... unusual as this I am going to suggest another option, Joint Custody." the judge spoke calmly, impressive for the situation. "But I also believe that the children should know about their previous adoption." I agreed with him as did L, within about two hours the contract was finished and I was sitting in a car with Quillish Wammy and L as we drove to Wammy's. On the way there L an I discussed the three children that were now partly mine. I knew now that Mihael was called Mello, Nate Near, and Mail Matt. I was also told of the three's personalities and preferences, so I could make their rooms perfect.

We pulled into the driveway as it registered to me how the day had changed. I was now the legal mother of three. Amazing, I went into that courtroom thinking I would come out with my brother's custody alone and I did so along with joint custody of two others and a permanent client. I was now to take only the cases I was given by L along with any Quillish needed me to handle. The three of us walked in and Quillish was swarmed by children asking if L was going to talk to them today and who L an I were, he said that we were here to adopt Mello, Near, and Matt. A kid walked up to me after that, he looked worried.

"Miss, Mello isn't very nice, Matt is weird, and Near is scary... I don't know if you want 're very pretty and I don't want you to get hurt..." I bent to his height and put a hand on his head, smiling gently.

"I understand, but I made a promise to Mello when he was a baby, I have to keep it. An Near isn't scary, he's quiet and maybe a bit antisocial, but not scary. The last thing is that you shouldn't call someone weird, it's not nice or fair. Any person can be different, quirky, or something along those lines... It's called individuality." The kid nodded reluctantly and went over to his friends.

"That was rather impressive...," I smiled at L's remark.

"Thank you, but no, it wasn't. With children you have to be truthful, fair, and kind. As long as you stick to that, they'll listen and understand what you're trying to say." L nodded in understanding as he an Quillish headed up the stairs. We stopped at a door where you could hear the sound of a video game going, opening it I saw Matt on the floor playing a game, my breath caught at the sight of my little brother. He was so big... He chomped on a chocolate bar and looked up, pushing Matt out of his game induced trance.

"Wake the fuck up, Matt, we've got visitors." Matt sighed and looked at the three of us. I noticed Quillish walk off to a white door at the end of the hall, he peeked his head in, said a few words and came back, followed by a white haired Near that was putting together a puzzle as he walked. As soon as all of us were in the room, L shut the door and locked it.

"I'm sure you three are wondering what this is about. Well, you were all officially adopted today." Quillish explained, all three were shocked.

"What about L?!" Mello asked loudly. L looked amused.

"What about me?" The three boys stared at him in shock, "I am L. I now hold joint custody the three of you, along with this woman here." He gestured for me to continue.

"I am Mirabelle... Keehl." Mello stared at me and I spoke directly to him here, "I'm your older sister."

"My... sister?" I nodded, sadly smiling.

"Yeah.. That's me...I'll tell you more now the three of you should start packing. We leave in an hour." L explained more and the three teens went to pack. Before he went to his room I pulled Mello into a hug.

"You look so different... I wish I'd been there to see you grow up...," He awkwardly hugged me back.

"... Thanks?" he had replied.

Soooooooooo, was it good? Bad? Hideous? Beautiful? Tell me about you're thoughts. If you hated it, tell me why, if you loved it tell me why. Well, you don't have too... But I'm going to put some info here to save some of you the time from asking... If you do ask anything...

Ages

L: 19

Mello: 15

Matt: 14

Near: 13

No, this story is not going to be compatible with the series. At all. I apologize, but it won't be.

Yes, I am obsessed with L an his successors, yes this is LxOC.

I do plan on focusing on this story, but I make no promises, I will not update regularly. I will update when inspiration hits.

Bye for now!