Anna's POV
It had been a week since I'd spoken to Watari and there was still no word from L. I crawled into the bed and held a pillow to my chest. I'd never gone this long without talking to L and I was going insane. What if something had happened? There was no way for me to know. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and closed my eyes. I hadn't slept through the night since L left, but it was getting a little bit better. I was just about to drift off to sleep when I heard the door shut quietly. My eyes shot open, but I froze. Who had shut my door? I'd taken to sleeping with it open to get used to it for when the baby slept in the next room. That and Near had started having nightmares once again. He'd only had one in the weeks L had been gone, but I wanted to be sure he was alright. I heard shuffling around the room and waited for one of the boys' voices to break through the darkness. A voice never came, instead I felt a weight on the bed before the person slid under the sheets beside me. Their hand landed on my waist and I had to force myself not to tense up. I took a deep breath before bringing my elbow back hard, connecting to the person's shoulder.
I flipped over, pinning them underneath me and throwing the sheets off the bed. "OW! Anna!"
My grip on the person's wrists loosened. "L?" I turned on the bedside lamp to reveal the person I had hit and was now straddling was indeed L.
He pulled himself into a sitting position rubbing his shoulder, "Yes, it's me. Who else would be getting into bed next to you?" I didn't answer feeling a million different emotions running through my body and once. Before I could really process what I was doing I threw my arms around him in a tight embrace, not fully convinced he was here and okay.
L's POV
I hugged Anna back tightly, taking in everything about her that I'd missed in the past month. "I hate you so much." I heard her mumble into my shoulder. She was crying.
I pulled away, cupping her face in my hand, "No, please don't do that. Don't cry." I begged wiping away her tears with my thumb. "Look, I'm sorry I left, but I'm back now." I kissed her quickly and then I realized something different about her. "Are you wearing my clothes?" Anna had on a white long sleeve that was at least three sizes too big on her and a pair of grey sweats that were practically falling off of her. She looked kind of cute in them.
Her face turned bright red and she moved away from me. "It helped me sleep better. I shouldn't be the one under questioning here. What the hell were you thinking running off like that? You had me worried sick." Tears were starting to form in her eyes again.
"Anna, I'm sorry, but I did what I had to do. I'm back now and I'm not going to leave again, isn't that enough?" I asked gently.
She shook her head, "No it's not because I don't believe you."
With her words, Anna shattered everything around me. "What?"
"I don't believe you. L, let me explain something to you." Her voice was dangerously calm, "From the day I started working cases with you I knew you were a liar. You do what you have to in order to get a case solved and that includes lying. I get that. I just never thought you'd lie to me, obviously I was wrong. Lawliet, I love you more than I could ever tell you, but that doesn't mean shit if I can't trust you."
"You can trust me." I insisted, but she shook her head again.
"No I don't think I can and that scares me to death."
"Anna, seriously? You know you can trust me. You've known me forever and I've never ever done anything to hurt you on purpose."
I watched Anna put her face in her hands and try to calm herself down. When she looked up, her eyes were wet, but she looked significantly less angry with me. "You have no idea how incredibly furious I am with you right now and you have a lot of questions to answer in the morning, but…" She stopped and took a deep breath, "But, it's late and I don't want to wake up the boys by arguing with you." She moved back to me and gave me a tight hug, "For now, I'm just glad you're back and you didn't get hurt."
I pulled her closer to me and kissed the top of her head, "You have no idea how much I missed you."
Anna's POV
I shut my eyes tightly and whimpered against the brightness of the sun that was pouring into the window. I felt movement beside me and froze for a second. Who the hell else was in my bed? I felt an arm wrap around me and pull me closer and memories of last night came flooding back to me. I turned over quickly to meet a pair of tired grey eyes, "Good morning." L's lips met mine and for a moment I forgot why I was so upset with him.
When he pulled away, resting his forehead against mine, I remembered and frowned at him, "I'm still mad at you."
He pulled me into him, resting my head on his chest, "I know, Anna I know. I'm still sorry."
"I know." I replied, letting him hold me. "You missed Matt's birthday." I looked up at him.
He flicked his eyes down to me, "Was he mad?"
I shook my head, "Matt doesn't care one way or another. Just be happy you didn't miss Mello's birthday. I'm pretty sure he would have refused to get older unless you were there."
L laughed lightly and held me tighter, "I'll apologize to Matt when he wakes up."
I finally pulled away and walked over to the closet, looking for something to change into. "So, why did you take the case?" I asked, pulling out a pair of grey jeans and an oversized sweater that read: Don't Panic.
"I had to." L answered.
"Bullshit. You only take on the hardest cases you can because you're picky as hell. I read up on the case and I'm pretty sure the police could have handled it themselves if you gave them a little time. So why did you take it?" He didn't answer. I looked over to where he sat on the bed, "Is this still about Kira case? I thought you were over that." He didn't answer as I pulled my sweater over my head. I sat on the bed and watched him. He wasn't looking at me, "L? Lawliet, look at me right now." He did, but said nothing. "I can't read your mind, L. You have to tell me what you're thinking. Talk to me. Please? All I want is an explanation for running off like you did."
He took a deep breath and was silent for a moment. Finally he met my gaze, "You beat me at clue."
I blinked once, "L, if you are telling that I have spent the last month worrying about you because you lost at a board game, I swear to god-"
"Anna, listen for a second. Can you do that?" He said staring at me, hurt filled his eyes.
I nodded, "I'm sorry."
"I felt like I was losing part of myself. I needed to prove that I could do my job without being bailed out by you or one of the boys. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud that we've taught them enough that they can do it, but… I don't want to need saving. I've always been the one to protect you and them from everything. When we had that power outage and you were afraid of the dark, you came to me. When Mello or Matt had nightmares they would come to me to keep the bad dreams away. Near would have me check all the closets and under every bed in Wammy's for monsters until he was seven and you finally told him they didn't exist. I used to be the one everyone came to for help and when it counted I couldn't even protect myself. I needed to prove that I still they man who could scare off the monsters." I waited patiently for him to finish.
When he finally did, I took his hand, "I didn't know you felt like that, L. Why didn't you just tell me this to begin with?"
He watched me carefully, "I couldn't. I'm supposed to be the strong one. I'm not supposed to fall apart, I have three teenagers looking to me for instruction. I'm supposed to set an example."
"Stop that." He looked at me curiously, "Stop acting like you're in this alone because you're not. If I have to remind you that we are a team one more time I am going to lose it. L, please don't keep things like that inside anymore. Talk to me."
He looked down, "I'm sorry. I know I should have talked to you about it, but I couldn't at the time. Are we okay?"
I let go of his hand and looked down biting my lip. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head slowly, "L, you still lied to me. I forgive you, but I need some time."
His eyes met mine as soon as I looked up, "You really don't trust me. Anna, come on I said I was sorry."
My heart broke a little bit inside my chest, "Sorry can only fix so much, L. You need to earn my trust back."
He sighed running his hands through his hair harshly, "We've known each other for eighteen years, Anna. I lie once in eighteen years and you don't trust me anymore?"
"How do I know that though, L? How do I know this is the only time you've ever lied to me? We both know you're a liar." L opened his mouth, but closed it again. "Have you spoken a word of truth since the day you were born?" That did it. L stood up and started toward the door, "L, don't walk away from me." I got up for follow him, but he turned around and looked at me from the doorway. The look on his face told me to stay where I was. With that he walked out the door leaving me alone in the room.
Wammy's POV
I turned from my seat at the kitchen table when I heard someone enter. L stood in the doorway, holding onto it for support. I put down my cup of tea, "Lawliet, is something the matter? What's wrong?" He stumbled awkwardly toward me and I stood up to grab him, afraid he was going to fall over. He brushed me off and fell into one of the chairs. I sat back in mine. "Lawliet?"
"She doesn't trust me." His voice was barely above a whisper.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Anna. She doesn't trust me. I think I messed up." His voice cracked a little and I was taken aback by this rare show of emotion.
"What did she say?" I asked. It hurt me to see him so visibly upset. L was never this emotional or if he was I never saw it. Now he looked close to tears.
"Have you spoken a word of truth since the day you were born?" Each word seemed to cause him pain.
I nodded and took a sip of tea, "I see."
"She's questioning everything I've ever said to her. What am I supposed to do?"
"You know her better than anyone. Talk to her."
"Can't you talk to her? She's not mad at you."
I watched him for a moment, "L, this is between the two of you. You-"
"Please, Wammy." I looked him over. He looked so broken.
I nodded, "Alright. Where is she?"
"Bedroom." I nodded again and left L alone in the kitchen to calm himself.
I walked down to where Anna and L slept and knocked once before opening the door. She was curled into a ball in the middle of the bed sobbing softly. I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, "Anna." She turned to look at me. Her face was wet with tears. I opened my arms to her and she sat up, letting me embrace her as she cried. "I know you're upset, but you need to talk to Lawliet."
She looked up and shook her head, "I can't do that. I just accused him of lying to me for eighteen years. He probably hates me." The last part came out as a sob.
"Anna, you know he doesn't hate you. He loves you." She continued to cry into my side. "Anna, I know it's hard to trust him after what he did, but you can't let this ruin everything. The two of you are about to have a child together and it's only going to get harder to work things out if you don't do it now." Her sobbing had calmed a little as I spoke. I pulled away to look at her, "Anna, do you love him?" She nodded. "Then I think you know what you need to do." She nodded again before getting up and walking out the door. I sighed to myself. What was I going to do with those two?
L's POV
My breathing had evened and I had calmed myself slightly. Inside, I still felt like my world had fallen to pieces. What would I do if Anna walked out of my life forever? She wouldn't just leave though would she? Not with Near, Matt, and Mello still here. "L?"
I looked up to see her standing in the doorway. Her face was wet and eyes red from crying. I felt sick to my stomach. I did that to her. "Anna." I answered quietly. I stood up as she walked into the room. As soon as she reached me she embraced me and cried hard as she'd done the night before. I felt my heart breaking once again. This was all my fault. "Anna, I-"
"L, I'm sorry." She choked out. "I'm sorry I accused you of lying to me about everything."
"You had a good reason. I'm sorry I lied to you. Anna, I'm sorry for everything I put you through in the past month."
She laughed into my chest as she cried, "We're bringing a baby into the world and we can barely keep ourselves together without Wammy's help."
I smiled into her hair, "We'll be okay. We just have some things to work on."
Anna looked up at me, "Are we okay?"
I nodded and kissed her forehead, "We're okay." She smiled up at me and I wiped away her tears with my thumbs, "No more crying."
She smiled up at me and did the same to me, "I won't if you don't." I hadn't even realized tears had been rolling down my cheeks until Anna wiped them away. She went onto her tiptoes and kissed my lips quickly and pulled away before I had time to respond, "I want to show you something."
She dragged my down the hall toward our room, but stopped outside the door next to our room. She stood in front of the door and smiled up at me, "Close your eyes, Detective." I closed my eyes, not bothering to tell her not to call me 'Detective' and she opened the door before taking my hand and pulling me into the room. I heard the door close behind us. "Alright, open them." I opened my eyes. Her arms wrapped around my waist and I put my arm around her, "The boys did it." The room was very plain, but it was the beginnings of a nursery. Cartoon animals were adorning the walls and a white crib was in the center of the room. I knew we still had some of the old furniture from when Near's room was a nursery, but it would have been too heavy for the boys to move.
"So, I guess it's official. We're having a baby." I voiced looking around the room.
Anna laughed, "I think it was official before they decorated a room."
I looked down at her, "But this makes it real."
She smiled up at me, "I know what you mean, L."
I leaned down and kissed her, feeling a little better about everything that had happened the past two days as she pulled me closer smiling into the kiss. When I pulled away from her due to lack of air I smiled, "I love you."
"I love you too."
