Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.

Light and L sat in utter silence on the ride back to Wammy's House.

As soon as L had said what he'd said about kidnapping, he had shut down, appearing completely lost in thought and utterly unresponsive to Light's attempts to rouse him, even when the attempts devolved to smacking him upside the head. He hadn't even blinked at that, until Light, furious, had hauled him up by the front of his shirt, dragged him out of the house, and stuffed him into Wammy's car, snapped his seat belt into place, then climbed in next to him, growling at Wammy to drive. Wammy had, with little more than a raised eyebrow.

By the time they got back to the House, Light was boiling. The moment the car stopped, he dragged L back out of it. They got many strange looks in the hallway but for once, Light didn't care. He threw L into his bedroom and slammed the door behind them. As usual, L's roommate was elsewhere.

"L!" Light snapped. "Talk to me!"

L pumped some hand sanitizer onto his hands, rubbed for a while, then chewed on his thumb.

"L!"

He bit off a piece of fingernail and flicked it absently away from himself.

"You can not just drop a bomb like that and then go off into your head! What do you mean, Mr. Wammy kidnapped you?!" He smacked the back of L's head again.

This earned a glare from L. "Stop hitting me." He lashed back with a foot, but Light stepped out of the way in time, giving him a matching glare.

"Then. Tell. Me. What's. Going. On!" he demanded, punctuating each word with a smack.

"Fine! Stop it!"

Light sat down daintily on L's bed, crossing his legs and folding his hands pointedly, the picture of civility and patience.

L rolled his eyes. He sighed as if this entire conversation were a bother. "Wammy kidnapped me when I was two years old."

"L! And you completely failed to mention this before-"

L held up a hand. "I went willingly. But legally, he kidnapped me."

Light's mouth opened but no words came out, at first. "...He really kidnapped you."

L nodded.

"But you wanted him to."

L nodded again.

"Could you give me a little more than that?"

"When I was little," L said, "It was discovered that I tested off the charts. My parents did not react well to this. They were obsessed with the ordinary, and it bothered them immeasurably that I wasn't. It got into their heads that they could beat it out of me, I suppose. Mr. Wammy was involved with intelligence testing, then. It's how he started finding students for the House. He heard about me, but I wasn't an orphan so he came only to interview me. When he saw the conditions I was living in, which were not good, he asked if I wanted to leave. I did. He came back later and got me."

"And your parents?"

"I think they were relieved, but I wouldn't know. The last time I saw them, they were face down on the floor from the gas we found today, snoring. And," he added, "as I can now tell you, I'm from France. Not Hungary."

"Then why do you know Hungarian?"

L gave him a look that was a mixture of horror and confusion. "I learned it?"

Oh. Right. "And the gas. Do we learn about it in one of our classes? Maybe chemistry? Because I know I've seen it before."

"No. It's not even on the market."

"Then how did Wammy get it?"

"He invented it." There may have been a note of pride in his voice. "For my abduction. It's undetectable in the body, that's why it wasn't in the autopsy."

Light's frown deepened. "He..." In a rush, he remembered years and years ago, his adventure with the trap door in Wammy's office, with A. He'd found a table full of chemistry glassware and chemicals. And he'd seen this chemical there, and that was how he recognized it.

"I saw it in Wammy's lab," he reported, relieved that the nagging in his brain was gone, leaning back against the side of L's bed.

"...You've been to his lab?"

"Is that envy?" Light shot back innocently.

"Where is it?"

"None of your business."

"But obviously it's your business."

"Obviously."

L huffed.

Light smirked.

L's gaze lingered for a long moment, then he looked elsewhere.

There was a strange silence.

"So," Light said after a long time, oddly hesitant, but when he spoke he found the tension gone. "Today we learned how B did it, and where, but we still can't prove it was him, unless a forensics team finds DNA evidence in the house or car."

"Then we must hope for that," L agreed.

That night, Light went to study in the library again. An hour or so later, so did L, and they sat across from each other, silent as the grave.

They didn't have to wait long for the forensics report, considering how seriously the case was being taken. Everyone involved in solving it was starting to look stupid, so the police were keen to get help and have it over with as soon as possible. The Public Relations sector was on the verge of departmental transfer.

So, it was only the next day, though late in the evening, that Wammy approached them with results.

A had been helping Light with his math assignment, the only area he was actually better than Light (and L) in, and Light was a bit reluctant to accept someone tutoring him but he was so pleased to see some color in A's face, for once, that he put up with it. A was easier to be with than L. Also, he wasn't L.

Also it meant getting to be in A's room. But that was really only a passing thought, of course.

A was patiently explaining a formula for the third time when Mr. Wammy knocked politely on the door. "A?"

"Come in."

Mr. Wammy opened the door, smiling as usual. "Hello A, K. It's convenient that you're both here; you have saved me a trip and, no doubt, an unpleasant viewing experience in K's room. Would you please follow me?"

It was the first time Light had seen Mr. Wammy since L's explanation, and he didn't know how it changed how he felt about him. Or, really, if it should change anything at all. It wasn't out of character for Wammy to go out of his way to help someone, and Light could imagine him with a slightly... spunky... side. And L had gone willingly. Then again, he'd been two years old and hardly at the age of consent. Then again, again, he'd still been L.

It was automatic for him to follow Wammy's orders, however, so although Light was unsure he followed him and A to wherever Wammy was taking them, which turned out to be L's room.

He didn't enter the room, he never entered students' rooms, but after ushering Light and A into it and checking that L's roommate wasn't present, Wammy said, "I gathered you because I didn't wish to repeat myself. I hope you understand. The police have had the lake dragged and they've sent a forensics team to the house. A car, lacking any registration, was found, as you anticipated. There was a large knife, a bucket, and a blender in the car. Nowhere in the house or the car were there any fingerprints. At all. There were also no hairs or other cast offs that would indicate the perpetrator. The 'blood' in the front room, in both the pool on the floor and the splatters on the walls, was actually paint. Cans of paint, and brushes, were also found in the car." He paused. "I'm sorry, boys, but this is a dead end. You did very well, but the police are insisting that this be taken out of media spotlight. You are off the case."

Light, L, and A stared at him in disbelief.

It was L who spoke up. "We're off the case?" he demanded, standing as Wammy was halfway out the door.

The old man stopped, blinking at him. "It's unlike you to repeat what has just been said, L," he said, a bit firmly.

"Yes, sir, but-"

"Was any part of my statement unclear?"

"No, sir."

"Very well." His sharp look softened. "If you do find that you have questions at a later time, you are of course welcome stop by my office. Until then, I have things to attend to. Good evening, boys."

And just like that, after months and months, they were off the case.

Stunned, L sat back down on his chair.

For a long time, they were all silent. Light was calculating how much time he'd utterly wasted on this case, and more prominently, how he could get B out of his life without it. He was startled by L's sudden announcement.

"Get out."

Light and A both stood immediately, more than happy to obey this order, and hurried towards the door.

"Just A."

They both stopped. "Excuse me?" Light demanded.

"I know you're in love with him K-kun but I was given to understand that such maladies do not affect one's ability to hear instructions."

Light whipped around to face A. "I'm not in love with you," he said firmly. He spun back around to L. "We're supposed to be working on this together. All three of us. Or we were. Anything you can say to me, you can say to him!"

"Not this." L locked his eyes on A. "Please leave, A."

A imitated a fish for a few seconds, then rushed out of the room.

"What is wrong with you!" Light demanded. "Everyone already knows you're smarter than him, so what are you even trying to prove?"

Furious, he stomped to L's door and ripped it open.

"K," came L's voice from behind him, and Light, despite himself, paused. He didn't look back at him.

"What?" he asked huffily.

"If Wammy would kidnap me..." L said, voice as close to unsure as Light had heard it in years of acquaintanceship. "Then maybe... maybe... he would..."

Light stood in the door for several moments, silent. Then he looked over his shoulder at L. His face was impassive, but he saw real emotion in the bottomless black eyes.

He turned back, and left to go find A.