Disclaimer: xP If I owned Death Note, I would put lotsa cute bits in it that make you melt to contrast all the deaths. But I don't.

A/N: Aargh sorry it's short guys but I this was my favourite chapter to write so far. I melted while writing this.


Embrace

It was not unusual to hear bells. At least, it wasn't unusual for L. Perhaps it was abnormal for other people to hear them, but not for L. They constantly reminded him of his pain. Always ringing and never stopping. They were louder at night as he slept. He disliked the dreams. Hours and hours of just bells ringing. It was enough to drive somebody to the point where they wouldn't sleep.

This dream was different though. Usually, all he saw was darkness and an old church as the sound of the bell sounded and rang. It went right through him. It Echoed.

However in this dream, he felt weird. It wasn't long before he worked it out. He looked down to see the suit he was wearing. A suit? What? A bowtie? Fancy shoes? Oh pringles! He was wearing socks! The material clung to his feet and made his feet uncomfortably warm.

He was suddenly conscious that he wasn't alone either. Everything was bright and the ringing of the bells continued. He turned to the right of him and was startled by what he saw. This was a wedding. His wedding with her. Emily was stood beside him, laughing with the bells, a white dress billowing.

"Gah!" L snapped his eyes open, being careful not to tumble out of his bed for he always slept while sat up in his crouched position. He winced as he thought of the dream. What was that?

---

Emily sat on her bedroom floor holding two pairs of shoes. Her high heels or her flat shoes? Her high heels looked better but she was more likely to fall over in them. She remembered the previous day and groaned as she realized how silly she must have looked falling over every two minutes. She settled for the flat shoes.

She looked at her bedside table clock and bit her lip. Eight o clock. Maybe she should sleep in later. She was going to be early again. But… What if she got to see sleeping L again? She wondered why she hoped for that before she realized something.

Could she possibly have feelings for L? She'd only known him two days but she felt intrigued by him. She pulled on her shoes and made her way out of her room, locking the door on the way out.

She nearly ran to the elevator; looking forward to the possibility that L was asleep again. It was such a normal thing to do for an abnormal person. It was human. As the doors opened, she stumbled out of the lift and crashed to the ground in her enthusiasm.
"Early again, Echo?" L asked, not turning around and keeping his eye on the files in front of him. She sat on the floor and looked in his direction in surprise.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked, embarrassed that she had somehow managed to fall over in flat shoes.
"Only you would throw yourself into the room at ten past eight, Echo." He said quietly. She snorted and unsteadily stood up.
"I didn't throw myself." She retorted. She was a little disappointed that L wasn't even going to face her.

L had no intention of facing her any time soon. He had not slept since the dream and had spent most of the night thinking things through. He couldn't understand it.
"How long have you been awake for?" Emily asked and L was startled as he saw that she had walked up to him. He would have to look at her now. He couldn't just ignore her.

He regretted it as soon as his eyes met hers. Images of her in a wedding dress flooded his mind.
"No! No! No! I'm not going to get married! I won't wear socks!"
"I woke up at four o clock." L said truthfully. He wasn't going to lie about that.
"You should sleep more." Emily said with concern. L looked at her and found to his horror that he was blushing. Luckily for him, she didn't seem to notice.

He quickly stood up, brushing the files aside. He felt less helpless when he was at the same level as her. Why did she do this to him?
"Is my cousin useful?" she asked suddenly. L looked at her in surprise, relieved that he had a distraction. He hadn't been expecting a question like that.
"He has his methods but I wish he would just follow his orders. At one point, we actually had to fake his death to save his life."

Before Emily knew what she was doing, she had her arms around L.
"Thank you for keeping him safe." She whispered, resting her head on his shoulder. Part of her told her to let go but she refused to. She clung to his waist and sighed. His hair brushed against her cheek. She remembered yesterday when she had wondered if his hair was soft and smiled. It was.

"I think of you as soon as I wake up, just before I fall asleep and all of the time in between." She thought to herself.

L was stunned. He hadn't been hugged in so long. For a few seconds he just stood there awkwardly, his mind racing as he tried to work out what to do. Without even realizing what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He was ever so slightly overwhelmed as the events over the past few days began to make sense.
"I'd trade all the cake in the world away just to stay like this forever. Oh wow she smells like coffee!" he thought.

Emily began to wonder who was more surprised as they stood there for several minutes. Was he more surprised than her because she had hugged him in the first place or was she more surprised that he was hugging her back? She smiled and tried to stop herself shaking. She could feel his heart beating in his chest and the warmth of his body. People never really realized that L was a living human being with feelings and emotions. Just because he never expressed some of these, people assumed that he couldn't. But she could feel his steady breathing as his chest rose and fell and his heart was beating. It was pounding. He was alive.


A/N: Yes I capitalised the 'E' in 'Echoed' at the end of the second paragraph on purpose. xD It's why I chose the name Echo actually. Just so I could use it there. I wanted this chapter to remind everybody that L was human because many people show him with no emotion. He has emotions, you just have to look for them. :) Thank you to Danicasdeath, The Blonde One and of course, ActionFry for reviewing. I love feedback.