I don't own Death Note or it's characters!

"She's just like him."

Mello looked over at her, the new girl, sitting alone on the couch, staring at the window.

"How?" Matt asked.

"Look at her!"

Mello was stressed. He was just worried, that was all. Matt sighed.

"Get to know her before you make judgments, Mello."

"I already know she's just like Near."

"No, you don't. Calm down."

"Shut up, Matt, why don't you get to know her?"

Mello was fuming.

Matt couldn't stand it when he acted like this, so he walked over to the girl and smiled.

"My name's Matt."

She looked up. She had brown hair that skimmed her collarbones. Her caramel colored eyes glanced up at him and locked with his momentarily before she looked away.

"Your friend doesn't like me."

"Is it obvious?"

"No, I just heard him yelling."

Matt laughed.

"Yeah, Mello can be pretty loud."

The girl smiled at him.

"I was told I wasn't supposed to tell anyone my real name. They said it didn't exist anymore."

"Did they give you another name?"

"Yeah."

She looked away.

"I don't like it."

"What is it?"

"Erin."

Matt smiled.

"I think it's a nice name."

"I like my name better."

Matt watched as her lip trembled.

"What's your real name?"

His voice was low and careful, quiet and gentle, afraid of somehow hurting the fragile girl before him.

"I'll tell you my real name, too, but you have to keep it a secret."

Erin looked at him.

"Jaime Webber."

"Mail Jeevas."

Erin smiled.

"I like that name. It's different."

Matt laughed.

"I have to call you Erin, you know."

"That's okay. At least someone knows who I am."

Matt smiled.

"Well, you know who I am."

Erin smiled.

"I guess I do."

"Do you like video games?"

The question seemed to take Erin aback at first, but then she smiled and laughed.

"I own video games, Matt."

Matt smirked.

"We'll see about that."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Matt looked over at Mello.

He was staring at Erin, who had warmed up to the idea of living at Wammy's House. There was a pained look on his face.

"She's not so bad."

"I know, that's not why I'm staring."

"Then why are you staring?"

Mello looked at him.

"I'm trying to figure her out."

He looked back at Erin, who had an animal cracker protruding from her lip as she typed rapidly on the keyboard, her eyes scanning the computer screen.

"She's intelligent, and beautiful, and kind. She likes what you like, what I like. She's quiet when she doesn't know someone, but when she warms up, she releases herself to the world. She doesn't care about being the next L, and yet, she's still here. Then there's the way she looks at you."

Matt froze.

"What are you talking about, Mello?"

"The way her eyes seem softer, brighter, full of emotion. I'm not stupid, Matt. She likes you. Then there's the way you look at her."

Matt shook his head, and snorted.

"I look at her like I look at you."

"I sure as hell hope not, Matt."

"Why not?"

Matt looked at Mello, who was looking at him.

"You like her, too. There's confusion, obvious discomfort when you don't know where she is or who she's with, obvious affection. Then when you two are together, you seem to fit. Like you two are connected by inner strings, pulling you together. Things are natural, and they happened naturally."

"Mello, you're losing it."

"No I'm not, Matt. Say what you want, I know you like her."

Mello stood and walked over to Erin, sitting beside her. Matt watched them carefully, trying to make out what they were saying from Erin's facial reactions. She quickly chomped on the animal cracker, making short work of it, and took the bit of chocolate Mello offered her. She smiled.

Obviously, Mello didn't have a problem with her anymore.

Obviously, Mello just happened to be a genius, or a mind reader.

Matt really, very, obviously liked Erin.

He sighed, standing up and walking over to them. He perked up when Erin looked at him, a grin on her face.

"Hey, there, Matt."

"Hey, there, Erin, how's it going?"

"Pretty good."

She looked at the computer screen.

"I managed to hack the local gamer sites, so now, in a matter of minutes, we'll be getting free games."

The computer suddenly buzzed, and the screen went blank.

Erin literally deflated.

"Or I'm going to get in deep shit for screwing with the computer again."

Matt and Mello laughed, and Erin couldn't help but giggle.

"C'mon, let's go tell them what I did."

They walked to Roger's office, but paused outside the half-open door. They could hear him talking with L through the computer.

"Ssh, I want to hear this." Matt whispered.

They crouched beside the door.

"Near, Mello and Matt are the top three choices."

"What about the girl? That... Webber girl?"

"Oh, well, she's very intelligent, but lazy. She doesn't hand anything in, claims not to want to succeed you. If it was true, she would've left by now, don't you think?"

There was a nervous laugh on Roger's part.

"Interesting. Tell me, how intelligent is she?"

"Well, if she tried, she could match Near. Perhaps exceed him, I honestly don't know. She's never tried, never applied herself in her academics."

"How do you figure she could match your top student?"

"Well, she's constantly hacking the computers here, but that could just mean she's technologically intelligent. Other than that, the signs of the work she does manage to hand in, it's… brilliant."

"Do you think she could be the next L, Roger?"

"Well, I don't know… she doesn't want to be."

"I didn't ask about her preferences. Does she have the determination, the drive, to be me? To be me when I'm gone?"

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

"Yes."

Another short pause.

"Watari, what's this girl's name?"

Watari was obviously in the room.

"Jaime Webber, alias Erin."

"Hm… what do you think of the letter E, gentlemen?"

Erin couldn't stand it.

She stood up and ran away from her friends, away from the door, away from the possibility of having to be something she was in no way ready to be.

Matt watched her run away, and looked at Mello, who was shaking.

"Just like him."

He muttered it slowly, violently. Animal-like rage shone in his eyes.

"Just like him."

His eyes glazed over with anger, violence, a need for relief.

"Just fucking like him."

Mello rose and walked away, glaring at Matt.

He knew Matt wouldn't abandon Erin for him.

Matt knew Mello would never let this go.

He rose and walked to Erin's room, slowly.

His hands were trembling. Matt didn't know what to say. Usually confident, if not bordering cocky, he never froze. But this was different. This was Erin. Erin. She wasn't some game he could play. There were no cheat codes he could use to hack her and make her play to his whim. There was nothing he could do but tremble and pray. Hope to God she was okay. Hope to God she liked him back.

His hand rose to her door, knocking shakily.

"What?"

Her voice was ice, cold and uninviting.

"It's me."

Silence.

"It's Matt."

Silence.

"Please let me in."

The door opened slowly.

Those caramel colored eyes were watery, her face on the verge of breaking. So much pain concealed in such a beautiful face, meant only for a cheerful smile and a laugh.

"Please, Erin?"

Erin nodded, letting him in carefully.

He stepped into her messy room. Clutter was everywhere, but he couldn't blame her. His room was worse.

"You okay?"

"Nope."

She walked over to her bed, lying down on her back, her eyes burning a hole in the ceiling.

Matt sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

"May I?"

"Don't care."

Matt lay beside her, his head close to hers, his body aligned with hers. He could feel her presence beside him. She was warm.

"You want to talk?"

"You want to listen?"

Matt turned his head.

Erin was facing him, their faces close enough to feel each other's breath.

"Yes."

Erin looked at the ceiling.

"I don't want to be L. I never want to be L. I don't want to be a letter. I want to be a human, and I want to be able to be with other people. I don't want to hide. Ever. And…"

Her voice broke.

"I don't want Mello to hate me."

Matt watched her.

"Mello's childish. He'll get over it. Don't worry about him."

Matt's voice was soft.

"You have me."

Erin looked at him and smiled, tears falling from her stunning eyes.

"Thank you, Matt."

Matt smiled back, and watched her as she looked back at the ceiling.

"They want me to be E. I can't. I can't be a letter. I have a hard time being Erin. I'm losing myself already. I can't remember anything from my past, nothing about my parents."

Matt nodded.

"It's hard."

"Yupp."

Matt closed his eyes.

"Want to take a nap, Matt?"

Matt looked at her.

"Sure."

Erin snuggled into him, her arm falling over his body, her legs tangling with his.

"Won't Mello be angry that you're with me and not him?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go check on him?"

Matt closed his eyes and smiled.

He tangled his fingers in her soft hair, the other hand enveloping hers.

"Nope."