Disclaimer and such in Chapter 1

Chapter 11

Time passed slowly for L as his young friend recovered, he couldn't bring himself to leave his friends side for any longer then what it took for him to go to the bathroom and have a short shower. It was in this time that Beyond was with Watari, it was the only way that the future detective could be convinced to leave at all.

B was crouched in his own crouch and was facing his father and feeling oddly alone and exposed to an uncomfortable degree. He'd spent all his time with the future detective that having the bubble he was in burst making this otherwise normal meeting with his father strained.
The older male seemed to sense this, but he had to answer questions about his health before introducing the new drug that came in for him.
"How have things been going for you in this past week my son?" B stayed silent for a short while before speaking up.
"I'm feeling a lot better Watari... thanks for asking..."
"Have you been having any complications with your breathing, minor or otherwise?" B paused for another long moment.
"It feels like my chest is a little heavier than usual... and I am coughing a little more..."
"Even with your current medication?" The younger raven nodded.
"I have good news then. Your new medication just came in yesterday. It is supposed to shrink the growths in your lungs to allow for better breathing. Are you ready to test it? I asked ahead of time regarding existing medicine, but there should be no issues." B hesitated before nodding and standing up to receive his new medication.

L came back after only ten minutes in the hospital bathroom, wrapped in nothing but a towel and boxer shorts. The younger raven had already taken his medication and paused to let it absorb before putting it away. He looked to see his friend and smiled.
"Welcome back Lawli..." He shuffled to pull the other into a comforting hug.

"I hope you don't mind me borrowing your clothes." This meant he could use the bathroom in the infirmary wing rather than going all the way to their room in an entirely different part of the orphanage.
"I don't mind... Watari... It's been over a week now... How long will I need to stay in here?"
"I would recommend another 4 days before I will release you back into the orphanage." The younger huffed before shuffling to the recovery room.
"At least you can eat normally now..." the detective mumbled, staying close by in case he was needed.
"Perhaps we can watch a movie together?"

"I'd like that Lawli..." He goes to his bed and sits himself down for a moment before laying on his side and closing his eyes.
"This is actually better than Roger's booklets... That's saying something..."
"Watching movies with me?" the detective mumbled and bit at his thumb, standing hunched over next to the bed.
"I hope so...entertainment companies would make little money if their movies where as bad as Rogers idea of home work."

B chuckled lightly in amusement.
"No... I mean... being stuck in this hospital wing... It beats out Roger's booklets any day. Your being here makes it all the more better." He let himself rest for a moment before opening his eyes to look at the TV area.
"Did you have anything in mind Lawli?"
"We have watched all the movies in the shelf now..." The elder mumbled truthfully.

There was a bit of everything in the Wammy's library from 'The Lion King' to 'Star Wars', but at their age most of the movies where off limits and very few of them actually got to the hospital wing, only the ones no one else watches.
"There is only a documentary on lions left... Other then that you should pick your favorite..."
"I was interested in the Nostradamus prophecies documentary, but it's out of bounds... Other than that, I am up for anything, really... Perhaps the lion documentary will have to serve its purpose as entertainment for the time being. Maybe we should have jam and strawberries with it?"

"I will go get it then." the detective stated.
"And perhaps we can apply for permission to watch it while you recover for 'educational purposes'; I am sure Watari will allow it as he accepts most well written requests on the grounds that anyone wanting to read a book or watch a movie enough to write a request deserves to..." he mused and walked out of Beyond's room for a brief moment to fetch the video. He padded slowly back and put it in the machine before paging the nurse.
"I'll write the request for you over some strawberries and cream..."

The younger raven nods and pauses the machine while waiting for his friend. He noted something strange. Whenever he looks at his friend's neck area, his heartbeat picks up speed a little. He'd noticed it, but never thought to reflect on it until today. He shrugged off the thought and resumed his waiting.

L asked politely for both their treats and some paper to write out their proposal on before sitting down next to his friend. It looked like a pretty old documentary, which is why it wasn't in the library; either it was unpopular or perhaps outdated. Either way they would watch it. B went to play the tape, hearing David Attenborough's voice narrating not long after it had resumed. He shuffled back and sat next to the older raven in a similar crouch. He sidled next to him and leaned in, mentally cutting out the horrible quality audio and focusing on the rest of the 'action'.

"It's actually not bad..." the future detective mumbled, "the footage anyway..." It wasn't long before their food arrived, a jar of strawberry jam and a bowl of assorted sliced fruit with a huge pile of fresh whipped cream on top.
"Agreed..." B turns to eye the jam jar and takes it without a second thought, opening it and digging in two fingers before removing them and sucking away the sweet treat from them, humming in contentment.

L's first victim was a strawberry which was quickly sucked clean of cream before the older raven pulled out the pad and pen and stated his formal request. The younger raven continued his assault on the sweet jam, taking his time and watching the documentary with half-interested attention. He knew many things about lions already from when he took an interest in the animal sciences. However, what used to make him flinch (or was that in his head?) no longer did so. He compared it to Griffin feeding and it was there that he realized that she probably had to eat store bought food, the poor thing.

L looked up at the TV every now and then but most of his attention was on the eating of the fruit and writing his request to get permission to borrow higher rated videos from the library.
"What are these videos about?" he mused, wondering if they could use the license to borrow some higher rated criminology videos.

"Roger's idea to ban the vids based on age... They are more thought provoking and more for someone of our level intelligence, age should not matter..." He sucked jam from his fingers and looked to his friend.
"They would certainly hold more interest for us both than... this..."
"True..." the future detective mumbled, picking up a slice of banana and repeating the process of licking all the cream off it while writing his report.
"Though I am sure there is some footage that is not suitable for anyone let alone children in those archives... Watari has some very gory police videos after all..."

"Need I remind you that we've seen our fair share of more of the same being taught by Watari? We can handle such scenery far better than the rest of the students here." He scooped more jam and sucked it off, looking to the fruit bowl before plucking away a grape bunch and adding one with the jam in his mouth.
"Yes though not all of the students need access to this... in those cases I agree... A for instance shouldn't have to see ten dead bodies piled on top of each other with there limbs removed... she wishes to be a doctor and such a sight would neither do her any good nor is it necessary as her patients will still be alive, or at least for the most part." L's next victim was a slice of kiwi fruit he happily nibbled at while speaking.

"If she where to simply walk up and pluck that video from the shelf, she would most likely add a scar to her mind she need not have. Not to mention the main TVs are in the shared lounge rooms, unless she where to borrow one over night and many of the students are not only young but have witnessed the deaths of family in only the past few years or even months in some cases... it would upset them... restrictions need to be set, perhaps not on age, but there needs to be some way to monitor and regulate such material for the better of those who would not benefit... perhaps rather then age based perhaps it should be solely request based. you can already make a formal request for a borrowing license for the restricted section, perhaps that should be made known to everyone..."

"And spare the rest of the newcomers and recovering some unnecessary grief. Understandable, and again with notifying others so that anyone who has not ordered the material should remove themselves from the public viewing area until the license holder has completed the material for their purposes." He plucked another grape from the bunch and added more jam before chewing slowly.
"Better yet some of the worse material should be viewed in a separate room, any unused classroom would do, with only license holders admitted. It would protect those who still cannot read, and there are many of those, from not understanding the warning signs and wandering in..." he mused.

"It would also mean that the living space wouldn't be taken up, as it so often is, and the other students can continue to watch their programs as normal... there may be one of them in each wing, but one or sometimes all of them are taken up by people who are studying. Of course another alternative is more television and computers made available to borrow over night... Some of the older students with 'jobs' have their own... speaking of which..." There was a slight pause for a moment as the raven went through his knowledge base for a moment.
"A may be the youngest student ever to make a discovery worthy of marketing... Or even to have such a 'job'..."

"Indeed, she sped up my recovery by a large margin. I really should thank her properly, perhaps I could carve her a dragon from one of the large leftover stumps. She'd like that for sure. At the same time, she still needs to develop it and try to avoid the side effect where one actually dies for a short time, that would be unpleasant." He paused for a short while, biting on an index finger.
"If she does market her find and it is bought by the right pharmaceutical company, she has basically set herself up for a scholarship to an advanced medical college. The funding would help and if she puts it into a trust, not only could she go to college, but set herself up for life. I don't think that would stop her at any rate."

"I am pretty sure that you actually died because the medication was delivered improperly..." the young raven mumbles and bites his thumb in an attempt not to upset himself.
"A said when she was told that the person who made the medication on mass for her to use on you didn't follow her exact instructions as she believed that being older meant she knew better and put far to much steroids into the medication... A didn't notice until after that incident and then decided to make the second batch herself... It is even a different color... and after you where given that you improved much faster than anyone expected... I think there is a moral to this story... do not trust outside hands to take you seriously when your an 11 year old genius..."

"No one can take kids seriously, especially children of our superior mental capacity... They are scared of us, we make them nervous. Like you said, people fear what they don't understand, it makes perfect sense... Besides..." B nibbled on a grape, momentarily losing his train of thought.
"I don't trust many others as it is, I had my suspicions, but I knew that it would help me out, despite that minor mishap."
"You can blame that on those foolish enough to think they know better then A..." he sighed.
"You literally overdosed on the steroids because they added too much... A knew better..." L ripped his written formal request off of the pad and handed it to Beyond. It was only a page long but it was all that he needed.
"I am going to write a second letter to Watari about possible changes in our library system..." he mumbled, taking a grape for himself to suck on before he started.

"I wonder what this overdose is going to do to my system then? I have a feeling I'll be experiencing something that someone of my physical age should not be experiencing... I think A would know how to counteract that... unless she did while I was still sleeping?" B stood up to turn off the television and remove the film, knowing both their interest in it was no longer there. He sat back down and poured a mouthful of jam and swallowed it in 3 gulps. He looked to his friend with admiration for his being so determined. Not that he wasn't, because he was, just not at this moment.

"She did... I am not sure what she did, but she knew that to give you to counteract the negative ongoing effects of the overdose..." he mumbled, his words slightly muffled by the grape.
"And as she pointed out most of your other side effects are gone now you have stopped treatment, the shaking for instance, and I am sure there would have been less side effects had the drug been made properly in the first place... Watari said he was looking into it but hasn't gotten back to me yet... I will ask him when he picks up these notes..."

B had his attention split between reading the note in his hand and his friend's words.
"Good thing she knew, otherwise, who knows what sort of condition I'd be in? I doubt that I'd be alive for one thing... Thankfully we've avoided that. It is an important matter to see what the company did wrong. I am eager to hear from him myself." He poured more jam and continued to read, approving of the note in his head before swallowing.
"This note should get us the videos that we can view for educational purposes."

The detective nodded and finished the first page of his report on the operating systems of the library.
"Would you mind calling Watari then..." he mumbled and gestured towards the pager next to the bed.
"I will have this done before he is done explaining the overdose in better light than I can..."
B stood from the chair and shuffled to the pager and pressed the one to Watari's room before there was a slightly muffled greeting.
"Watari, when you are done in there, we'd like to request your presence in here. There is an important matter regarding an overdose that needs to be resolved. Thank you." He cuts the line and returns to the couch to finish off the jam and digging in a finger to scoop out any stray bits.

L is on the last page of his report and his last piece of fruit when Watari finally entered the room. He took the first note and handed it to him before returning his attentions back to the library's many issues.
"We would like to request a license to borrow videos from the restricted section and also, Beyond as questions about what happened to him regarding A's medication... I would also like to know how its development is going?"

The elder male pauses, organizing the questions in his mind and sending the appropriate information to each one. He cleared his throat before taking a seat nearby. He reviewed the note given to him. The younger raven waited patiently.
"For the situation regarding the steroid overdose, I have received a reply to my own letter questioning why they did not simply follow A's formula. Their explanation to this mistake was not answered to a satisfactory degree, so I assumed they made changes out of ignorance to A's methods. I am currently waiting on a reply to my own explaining to them the effects the mix they used had on you Beyond."

He paused to clear his throat again.
"The overdose did give you more hair growth as A had predicted, and more muscle mass noticeable in the second day in. We grew concerned as the extra muscle would mean more blood and would over work your heart. A brought in some estrogen to counteract the effect of the extra testosterone. Had A not acted, you would have died from heart failure from being over stressed." He filed that answer set away and brought the next one up.
"We've sent a formal request to remove the trial drug from the company as well as a withdrawal request from the company itself. As I speak, A is still working on her second trial drug. It is about 60% in its completion. She has planned to have trial runs with the lab mice within the next 2 weeks. As for your request for the license, I trust that the both of you will make good use of them and will not abuse this right to one. I will run it by Roger and have special cards made for both of you."

The elder male finished his second request, tearing of the five sheets of paper and handing them to Watari before turning his attention once again to the many questions he needed an answer to.
"A's medication itself is sound though, she should not be punished for their mistakes..." he mumbled and looked to Beyond for a moment.
"She will be the youngest to have a 'job' here am I correct? I know 25% of the money will go to the continual running of this orphanage and another 50% into a bank account she will not have access to until she is 18... however... how much is she looking at making from this little venture should it prove successful? It could help a lot of people..."
"Yes, her medication was good as it was. It falls on the company who made that mistake. I have notified them that their mistake will have serious consequences. She is currently the youngest, yes. She found a cause to work for and put her knowledge in developing a product to serve that cause. Roger and I are still working out figures to her medication. If you are wanting to know, we should have a proper number by tomorrow afternoon." He folds the notes away in his waist coat before looking to the pair.
"I have no doubt that her findings will benefit the health and recovery of many. She has yet to get back to me for her reward though, so I will get back to her on that when she is available next."

"You should... I think she isn't herself..." Beyond nodded at the statement, their sister had been acting strangely since he got sick.
"I do not know if she is upset about Beyond's sickness, worried for him or even feeling guilty for the mistakes of the drug company... she could even be stressed about having to do this alone... regardless of the reason she needs something to lift her mood..." The future detective bit at his thumb for a long moment.
"Also... can I request that I start work also..." It seemingly came out of nowhere, B being the only one to see it coming. If A where helping to make her brother's life better then L would bring in money to improve the quality of life he had already.

B didn't show the slight pang of... guilt? No, it was not guilt, but something else he did not know the name of. He faked a small smile anyways.
"I will certainly see what is being made available at this time. Mind you for your age level, it will be nothing too glamorous, but you are stronger than you appear, your martial arts training is a testament to that."
"I already know what I want Watari..." the raven stated bluntly.
"I want you to train me to become a detective, I want to be able to move Beyond and I into the bigger rooms, I want a bigger bed and a bathtub so when he is sick he can soak and relax..." and he was determined to get it.

The feeling grew stronger, something inside screaming at him to stop him, but knowing all too well that he was just as adamant as he when it came to decisions.
"Criminology is your major, and I will be willing to train you and pay you as you train. It is not an easy path mind you L, but I have a feeling that you will be a great detective, perhaps as great as Coil and Deneuve." Watari's instincts about his adopted children were rarely wrong. He knew that Lawliet could in fact be better than Coil and Deneuve, the two current top detectives in the world.
"It is what I want Watari..." L mumbled and looked over at his friend for a long moment.
"I want to give Beyond a chance to be happy not in case he doesn't have that opportunity later... And I want to be happy with him..." This would mean more luxuries for them both, a bigger room on the top floor, a TV and computer so it was easier to study, and for him it meant he could drop the classes that where unnecessary.

B stood up and sought jam in the mini fridge and frowning when none was in sight. He walked back and sat next to the older raven and leaned heavily into him, conveying his apprehensions about his decision to be a detective. Something told him it would end badly, but he would not voice it to the older, asked or otherwise.
"That sounds like a fair goal. I will train you for as long as necessary and then send in requests for cases to be sent this way."
"Thank you Watari." The elder raven smiled, putting one arm around him as if assuring him that he could make the right decision.

B closed his eyes and leaned more into his friend and hid a small frown. The elder stood up and removed the letter from his waistcoat. "I will review this after speaking with Roger on a few matters. Take care until then my boys."

"Goodbye Watari..." the older raven mumbled and pulled his friend closer, waiting until their adoptive father left the room before speaking again.
"Looks like we get our restricted section license..."
"Yeah.." Mumbled the younger softly, keeping his eyes closed. He leaned into the older raven. The prospect of gaining more restricted material had lost its spark on him. He shifted to get himself comfortable.
"You're not interested anymore?" the older mumbled, noting the lack of excitement in his voice.

"I'm just worried for you now Lawli..." Though that was true, it was more wondering if this path he had chosen would ultimately take his life.
"I'm in agreement with Watari... it's not easy which means many things can go wrong that you are not ready for, even with training..."
"I will not take on more then I can manage you can rest easy..." The onyx eyed raven assured him and looked over to the now empty fruit bowl.

The younger raven shifted so his legs were now hanging from the arm rest and his head lay next to the soon-to-be detective's curled thigh.
"Don't let your work get the better of you Lawli... Don't be a slave to it... Promise me this?"
"I promise..." the future detective gave a small smile and ran his fingers through his friends hair affectionately. B leaned into the touch and managed a small smile, reaching up with his arms to grab a shoulder to pull the older down so he could return the favor to his friend's hair.

"Are you tired?" the older asked quietly knowing that his friend was still sick and easily warn out.
"A little..." he mumbled, still playing with the hair he could reach.
"Rest with me on the couch for a little bit?"
"Or we could go and rest in the bed," he offered, "then it won't matter if you fall asleep..."
"I like it right here though..." The younger countered, opting to let go of the older's hair to cling onto a leg.
"It's comfy..."

The elder gave a small smile and nodded slowly, relaxing back into the lounge more. Things where much better now then when he was two sick to even move.
"Watari left the security footage of you being revived in the archives, I am sure you can watch it if your curious." And Beyond was always curious, his friend was simply waiting to see if he would ask for the footage himself.

"Not right now... I just want to rest here..." He pulled down the older's legs and used his lap as a pillow and rolled to his side, huffing out a contented sigh before letting his eyes go lidded while he relaxed.
"No, we would need to request it anyway..." He knew A had seen it... Was that what upset her?

"Yes... but I'm not ready to see it just yet... I know without looking that you were upset... I don't want to see a sad Lawli at the moment. I want to see a happy Lawli..." He nuzzled the leg his head was on and closed his eyes completely. L smiles slightly.
"I'll be happy once your out of this place and back in our room again." As much as he loved spending all this time with his friend, there was no denying there wasn't much to do.

"Agreed..." was the murmured reply, the younger raven letting himself relax more.
"I hope that Griffin is being taken care of properly... She needs her mice more than the shit they've probably been giving her..."
"Watari has been looking after her and I doubt he has been feeding her mice..." he mumbles.
"He was against it in the first place so I doubt he has changed his mind..."
"You know my opinion on store bought garbage... The moment we get back, I am feeding her a large mouse... Better make it a rat..." He relaxes more and evens out his breathing, holding a leg and gripping it lightly as he settled more into a sleep state. Slowly, the older reaches down and strokes Beyond's side. Their Griffin was certainly one spoiled cat, even if Beyond didn't think she would survive very long.