That Fateful Day

L awoke rather late the next morning. In contrast, I awoke bright and early. To my surprise, I found Irene Adelaar sitting nonchalantly in a chair by the table as I made my way down the stairs. She was reading a novel I assumed she picked up from a shelf of some sort. Quite honestly, there were so many papers, books, artifacts, and other such things lying around she could have picked it up from anywhere. When I reached the end of the stairs, Adelaar was looking about the room, clearly repulsed by the messy arrangement of items.

"Morning," I said as though she had never been contained in the guest room.

"Good morning Dr. Dawson," Irene replied pleasantly. No doubt she would: she was finally released from her imprisonment...for now.

"I see L has let you out of the guest room," I remarked.

"He said I had caused too much damage though I can clearly see there is much more damage out here than in there. Have you no housekeeping?"

"Only when we are away. Though Coil doesn't like it very much when it is clean so she no longer organizes, only dusts. Plus, she is much too busy with L's sweets anyway. At least when we are home, that is."

"I see," Irene replied rather simply. She then continued her reading. For a moment there was nothing but silence. I took this opportunity to arrange some breakfast for the two of us though I was unsure as to whether or not Miss Adelaar had eaten anything prior to my entry. Though once I had finished concocting our meal, I soon discovered she had not eaten a thing as she began to eat her meal.

"How is the Kira Case coming along?" Irene asked smoothly as though she were trying to obtain information that she knew she would never get from L.

"You know very well that if it is something we are allowed to tell you, Mr. Coil would have informed you by now," I replied.

"I suppose you are right," she remarked as she realized she was not going to get any information out of me. "Though I do not like the idea of Kira killing a carriage driver when we happen to be in his carriage. That was no coincidence."

"I'm sure that is what Mr. Coil will be investigating first," I replied, "Though I myself would like to know where the carriage crashed. It must have been in a poor area otherwise the two of you would have been out of there in a jiffy."

"You know Mr. Coil would have informed you by now if it was anything worth noting," Irene repeated. She was talented, that was for sure.

"I can see why Mr. Coil has taken a liking to you," I remarked. Irene made no notion to reply to this comment.

The conversation did not really go much farther as there was no plausible information to be obtained from either of us. With that being said, we merely took what would end up being the remainder of our time together and began to eat. Our meal was nearly finished when I heard footsteps descending the stairs. I turned my attention upward and saw L had finally decided to awake. He gave a small smile as he noticed the two of us sitting comfortably by the table.

"Good morning," he said.

"It's nearly noon," I replied.

"Still morning," he remarked. By this time, L had reached the bottom of the stairs and was now proceeding to sit across from myself and next to Adelaar. "I see you have already had your meals."

"There is still some cake left in the kitchen," I remarked as I sat up to fetch L his meal while L began to poor something to drink.

"Miss Adelaar, I feel rather generous today and am permitting you to remain out of your room for the rest of the day," I managed to hear L state from the other room. Irene remained silent for a few moments. For my own benefit, I decided to remain in the kitchen, hoping L would say something he was not going to mention to me. "Under no circumstances are you to leave this house, do I make myself clear?" Irene must have frowned or something of the sort for L continued "Come now; don't give me that look you know it's for your protection." There was another moment of silence. "You may come back in Dr. Dawson."

After a brief moment of embarrassment on my part, I brought the cake and placed it gently on the table without saying a word.

"You know I would never keep secrets from you Dr. Dawson. I'm rather offended that you were attempting to spy on me," L remarked though there was no seriousness in his voice. "Next time, do not stay in the kitchen much too long otherwise it will become painfully obvious as to what you are attempting. And never offer to get me something out of the kitchen since you normally say something along the lines of "learn how to get things yourself, you lazy bum" and that's if you're in a good mood." He smiled at his last remark.

"I shall try to keep that in mind," I replied. L laughed at this remark.

"Try? You shall have to remember otherwise you will never catch me!" L stated, his eyes sparkling as though he were a child having a bit of fun. "Remember when you were convinced I removed all the silverware, save the knives, and hid them in your room?"

"Only you would think of something like that. But the only one who could have possibly done it was Charles," I responded as we reflected on the past. This was of course when L was able to speak and when he was a rather wild child. To make matter worse, L was a brilliant wild child.

"That's because it was Charles though it was I who gave him the idea," L chuckled and I noticed Irene laughing a bit as well at the anecdote. It was odd for L to mention the past with Irene present, not to mention rather dangerous. Yet for whatever reason, he was clearly quite comfortable and quite happy. So, for the time being, L was being L and not Eraldo Coil.

We spent at least an hour or two telling various stories and simply chatting about anything really. Yet, whatever it was we were discussing, there was always a good laughter to follow. It was a nice break from the serious talk that had surrounded us these days. For a moment, the Kira case was solved and we were able to relax, forgetting all the problems in the world.

Until L's eyes gazed up at the clock.

"Oh," he stated, rather indifferently. "Is that the time already? Well, I suppose we must be off Dr. Dawson." As reality set back in, L arose from his position and began to grab his coat and hat. "We should not be too long. After all, we really don't have that much to do today."

"Can't we just take the day off, Mr. Coil? It is Sunday and even you need your time to rest. Hell, even God rested today," I complained.

"Come now, you know I'm not a religious man. And neither are you. What sort of religious man uses the Lord's name and Satan's living quarters in the same sentence?" L smirked.

"At least I'm not a Scrooge for Christmas," I retorted.

"You can take pride in that all you like." L then turned his attention to Irene. "Let no one in this apartment except us. Do not even answer the door, understand?"

"I'm no fool Mr. Coil," Irene said.

"I never said you were one."

While those two were bickering about useless things, I was getting myself ready. I'm sure the reader would have found the argument amusing and I do apologize for not being able to record such a scene. Though I will say it was not a very long argument and thus the reader is not missing much. I then proceeded to leave our apartment. L used my leaving as an excuse for departing himself.

"Remember: let no one enter," were his last remarks.

After following L for a bit I gathered we were heading towards Scotland Yard Headquarters. It felt strange to be this uninformed. I do not mind when I am not well informed with certain matters pertaining to evidence of the case but it is rather troublesome to wonder where it is I am heading and for what purpose. Normally, I would inquire as to where our destination was however L seemed completely transfixed on the task ahead that I made no notion to interrupt him. His eyes burned with passion: a passion I had never before seen. It was not his usual motivation of pride but rather something else, something I could not see. There was a new quality about him, one that I would never be able to understand.

As we approached Scotland Yard Headquarters, I lifted an eyebrow in surprise for Light Videocq was standing with is father along with Inspector Peel.

"What on Earth is he doing there?" I could not help but to inquire.

"He has been assisting me for the time being...I invited him to work on the case." I will not lie: this statement came as a great shock to me as well as annoyed me.

"And why was I not informed?" I found myself asking. For a moment, the fire in L's eyes ceased as he turned to address me.

"I did it for your own safety Dr. Dawson. It was a little risky of me, don't you think? Allowing our number one suspect to work on the Kira Case: quite dangerous. Besides, you would have pestered me for days on end had I told you." The tone of L's voice was completely sincere which was why I decided to cease my negative attitude. In fact, his response was rather heartwarming if I do say so myself.

"I would have pestered you about it until the day Kira was finally caught," I replied. L smiled at this and his eyes returned to their passionate gaze.

While I was attempting to concentrate on the information being presented before me, I could not help but to feel Light's gaze on me. It sent a chill down my very spine, making its way to every bone and nerve until finally it reached the core of my very being. His stare was intense as though he were following my every move, wanting me to react to certain information. Anything, that would give him the slightest clue but to what I had no idea. L sensed his gaze too and I could tell he felt rather uncomfortable. He was literally watching our every move. L attempted to meet this intense gaze with his own passionate stare while I simply cowered. Of course, Inspector Peel and Chief Inspector Videocq did not notice his. Or perhaps they did and simply chose to ignore it. If either of them noticed, it was the Chief Inspector though I would not be surprised if apart of him chose to be in denial for that would mean his own son was potentially dangerous. Either way, I was up to speed with the new information regarding the case though that still didn't help the uneasiness I felt the entire day. I do not know what it was but I felt something terrible was about to happen. Call it a premonition if you wish or simply call it a gut feeling but I knew something was going to happen.

I was thankful when the day finally ended and we were allowed to leave. For what was only a few hours seemed like an eternity.

"What on Earth is that young man planning?" L muttered just barely audible under his breath. He too, was clearly unsettled by the day's events.

"I haven't the slightest clue though he was acting rather odd today."

"From the moment we began to follow Light I always felt as though I were watching him closely....however...now it feels as though I was the one being watched. As though he were a vulture and I was nothing more than a scrap of prey, completely defenseless."

"He was watching me too."

"Yes, I noticed. Precisely why I did not want you involved at first. I believe he sees you as a weak point: as though he can obtain information from you easily."

"Well, he better re-calculate that one!"

"Indeed."

We were now approaching our apartment. However, to my surprise, L stopped short. I turned to see why he had stopped and found one of the most horrible images I had ever seen. His face was completely pale. He did not make any noise though I could see a part of him was trembling, attempting to keep his feet planted firmly on the ground. It looked as though he were about to grab his heart, as if something were tugging at it, not allowing it to beat freely. His gaze fell simply straight ahead as panic now began to fill his facial features.

And then he bolted forward.

I glanced quickly to see what he could have possibly been staring at. And then I saw it too.

Our apartment door was wide open.

I raced after him though of course I would never be able to catch up to him. Adrenaline was no doubt filling his body, forcing it to move faster than it had ever moved until this instance. It only took him a few seconds before he was inside our apartment. When I was finally able to reach him, he was in our doorway on his knees. The floor was covered in blood, sticking close to a body of a woman who was alive and well just a few hours before. Someone we had had a lovely conversation with just hours before. And someone I now knew L had once held close to his heart.

Irene Adelaar was motionless as L held her firmly in his arms.