Gia's POV
The sound of videogames being played woke me up. I sat up quickly, ready to tell Matt to turn it down only to find I wasn't at Wammy's. I couldn't remember where I was or how I'd gotten here. I didn't remember falling asleep. I looked around for any indication of where I was. That's when my eyes landed on a newly familiar figure.
"Anderson." I called out.
Emil turned around and smiled brightly, his glass rested on the end of his nose. He fixed them promptly. "You're awake."
I nodded and peeled the pale yellow blanket off my body and stood up unsteadily. I walked over to where he was playing games and he looked up at me.
"What happened?"
The light in his eyes died a little. "You passed out before we got in the gate. You had me worried."
I licked my lips before averting my gaze. "I seem to have everyone worried lately."
"Near and Matt texted you. Your mom called you as well."
I grabbed my phone from beside him and cradled it to my chest protectively. He had looked through my phone. He knew my brothers' names. That was basically rule number one was not to tell anyone other people's names. I opened my phone and looked at the messages. Same thing as always, asking me to tell them where I'd gone. I pressed on the missed call from my mom and pressed the phone to my ear. It rang three times before she picked up.
"Gia."
"Mom, hi." I breathed.
I had to admit, it was good to hear her voice again. It had been seven days since I'd left England for Denmark, four days since I'd spoken to my mother, and five since I'd heard from my father. My uncle hadn't even bothered to try contacting me, but I assumed he was in constant contact with my brothers. After all, there's no way they would have taken him with them. I hadn't been told exactly what happened, but supposedly he'd done something horrible. I'd meant to look it up a long time ago, but between school and mock cases with Near I hadn't had the time.
"Matt said he was going to have you call me yesterday, what happened?"
My mind reeled as I tried to think of any excuse Matt might have thought of to get us out of this. I tapped on my leg as I thought.
"He didn't tell me, he must have forgotten." I tried.
My mother must have accepted my excuse because she didn't question it. "How are you?" She asked.
I nodded to myself. "Good, good." I bit my lip. "How's the case going?"
I hoped she would leak some detail I could use to further my own case. Emil and I had made some progress in it, we figured out the next abduction should happen in a day or so. If we didn't find the killer before then, the body would surface about three days after. We'd figured out that other than having dark hair and being relatively young, there was no connection between the victims meaning these girls were probably chosen solely on appearance.
"Very well, your father and I are very close to solving it."
Damn. "That's good, so you'll be home soon?"
"Within the week." Damn. "Sweetie, I have to go, your father is calling me. I'll talk to you soon. Tell B, we said hi. I love you."
"I will. I love you too. Bye, Mom." I didn't wait for a goodbye before I hung up the phone.
"You miss your mom." Emil noted.
I put my phone down. "Of course I miss my mom."
Emil has his eyes glued to the screen. It's a game I'd seen Matt play and beat a hundred times before but never got the name of because every time I asked I was completely ignored due to how engrossed my brother could get. Mello would usually walk up behind him and hit him in the back of the head to get his attention, but it usually just led to an argument.
"So you're all pretty close." He decided.
"Yeah." I watched the game continue. "You have to go through there."
"What?"
"You have to go over here to advance to the next level."
I moved to the screen and pointed at the far left corner. Emil moved his character to the area I had pointed out. He went through the hidden opening and found the key necessary to advance. Once he advanced he paused the game and looked to me. I looked back and waited for him to say something.
"How did you know about that?"
I shrugged. "My brother is addicted to videogames. This is one of his favorites."
"Do you play?"
I shrugged, "I dabble."
Emil held out the controller. I took it and began the level. I copied the motions I'd watched Matt do a thousand times and within minutes, the level was passed. I paused the game and handed it back. Emil looked awestruck.
"That was amazing."
"It was okay. Where are you going?" I questioned.
Emil had gotten up from his seat. He had almost gotten to the door when he turned around to me. "I have to feed my dog."
"Dog?"
As soon as the door opened, a grey Irish wolfhound bound in the door. I gave a small shriek as he approached me. I had never seen such a large dog. Emil noticed my distress instantly. Clapping twice, he let out a short low whistle.
"Kasper, come." He commanded.
The large dog returned to him without hesitation and Emil petted his back. A bright smile etched itself onto Emil's face as he continued to walk his dog down the hall. After a moment's hesitation, I followed after him.
"Where's your dad?" I asked.
"He and my stepmom are on a trip. He had to leave for business and she just can't be without him." Emil went on dramatically after picking up his dogs bowl.
I leaned in the doorway. "If they've been gone, who fed the dog while you were with me? You've been gone for days?"
"The neighbor. I'm usually gone. My parents don't exactly keep tabs on me." He confessed.
I entered the kitchen and hopped up on the counter while he put the dog's bowl on the ground. Emil leaned on his forearms against the tile countertop. I smiled down at him sadly and looked away.
"I can't relate. My parents have always kept very close tabs on me."
Emil's POV
I rolled my eyes playfully. "I'm sure L keeps a very close eye on his daughter."
Gia looked at me curiously. "I thought you didn't believe in L."
I chuckled lightly. "I don't. I was teasing you."
"Oh."
I could still see the bags that had formed under her eyes in the past few days of us working together. I knew she should still be asleep. She hadn't slept in three days, insisting that her father didn't have to so she didn't need to either. Still, I couldn't blatantly tell her to go back to sleep on the couch in my living room and I didn't want her to think I was creepy by asking her if she wanted to sleep in my bed. I motioned for her to follow me back into the living room while Kasper continued to eat his food. Gia followed quietly and took a seat on the couch opposite me.
"Can I ask you something?" I questioned. Gia nodded. "What's your story?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well you read me like an open book. Everything from my parents to the" I paused and swallowed, "the lake. I don't even know your last name."
"I can't tell you that."
"Then tell me about you. Come on. I already know a little bit."
"Like what?"
"Well…" I sat up a little straighter as she sunk down. "You don't like coffee, but you drink it to keep yourself up because you're trying to be like your dad. You relate more with your mom than your dad and you probably don't like your dad that much and wish he was someone else. You value family a lot and would die before letting their secrets out and you use strawberry scented shampoo."
Gia stared at me for a while. "You're wrong about my dad. I don't wish he was someone else. He's someone I aspire to be like. He's just a little suffocating sometimes." The last part trailed off and she yawned.
"So tell me about you."
She laid out on the couch, watching me quietly. "I'm from Winchester, England. My mom and dad grew up together in the orphanage there. That's where they got my brothers from too. And my uncles. And my grandpa."
"I thought you only had one uncle." I clarified.
I specifically remembered the letters she's called out to me. M, M, N, L, A, B. The first three I'd figured out where her brothers, the second two were parents, leaving B as her uncle. Gia shook her head, her eyes drooping shut.
"I never met A. He killed himself when my mom and dad were kids. I visit him sometimes, but my mom doesn't know. She doesn't like to talk about him. His name was Andrew."
"So you were born in Winchester." I urged her to continue.
She nodded sleepily, her eyes closed softly. "I was an accident. I caused a lot of problems. I think my mom wanted to get rid of me at some point. All before I was born."
"I'm sure that's not true."
"Mello told me I almost broke them up."
"Gia…"
"We should be working on the case, we haven't made any progress."
"We'll work in the morning, okay?"
She was asleep before she could answer.
Matt's POV
"I've got it." I decided aloud, scaring Near who was half asleep looking over a file.
"Got what?" Mello asked.
I turned from the map to face them. "I know where the killer is going to abduct his next victim. Chances are Gia already knows too or she's about to figure it out. If we go there, we catch her."
"If we've figured it out, Anna and L most likely already know and will be on standby ready to have them arrested."
"We'll just have to get Gia out of there before they notice her at all." I explained.
Mello nodded, "How do you propose to do that?"
I leaned back against the map. "I have no idea."
Near twirled his hair around a finger. "I might have a way."
L's POV
I felt hands glide over my shoulders and down my chest before a quick kiss was pressed to my cheek and the hands retreated to my shoulders.
"Love, you should come to bed." Anna voiced.
I looked up to face her. She was in one of my old white button ups I never wore. I turned around in my chair, my hands found her hips and arms fell about my shoulders. I pulled her closer until there was no space between us.
"I have work to do. This case isn't going to solve itself."
"You haven't slept in four days."
"We should make it five."
"What would Watari say?"
"He's been dead for years."
"And he left you in the very capable hands of your wife. Now come to bed." Anna pressed her lips against mine, making it very difficult to argue with her.
She pulled away and pulled me to my feet. A mischievous glint in her eye as she began pulling me off toward our shared bedroom before the phone rang. Anna groaned loudly as I pulled away. I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"I'll answer this and head to bed, I promise." I grabbed the phone and pressed it to my ear "This is L."
Beyond's voice came through the phone quickly. He sounded slightly panicked. It wasn't until he finally told me the reason for his call that I knew why. I felt myself pale and then my body went ridged. How could he let this happen? After a series of questions, I hung up.
"L? Honey, what's wrong?" Anna came back out of the room just in time to see me press my phone to my ear once again.
I looked up at her and sighed aloud, not wanting to tell her. I hung up when I was sent to voicemail. "That was Beyond. Gia is missing."
