Chapter 37

The trip to the hospital proved uneventful, although the unconventional quartet attracted the attention of everyone in the waiting area. Mello handled the scrutiny by snapping loudly on his candy bar; Matt completely ignored the looks playing his game, and Near filled the time playing with a toy airplane.

L wished he had set up a private doctor of his own who would come to his apartment as he had done in the past, but hadn't done it since coming to Japan. He'd rectify that situation as soon as possible; this was unacceptable. When he was finally called into the office, Mello stood up with him and when he tried his worst glare at him, Mello snapped his bar at him, glaring back. Not wishing to cause a scene he merely sighed and allowed Mello to follow him into the examination room. Once inside the room, Mello sat down in a chair as L sat on the examination table.

"You realize you will pay for this." He warned Mello and the young man laughed.

"I know, but it'll be worth it just to know you really are alright. Besides, we'll be gone in just a couple of days, we'll be out of your hair and who knows when we'll see you again. You have to allow us a little fun!" L stared at the blonde for a moment and had to allow himself a small smile.

"You have an odd way of having fun." He said and lay back on the table. He really hated being here and truth be told he actually was glad Mello was in here with him. It reminded him all too well of being stuck in the hospital and how he felt so powerless. Before he could dwell on that too long, the doctor came into the room, reading his chart.

"You seem to be doing well, Mr. Rue." He was saying.

"Yes, I know how I have been doing. Can we please get this over with, I have a lot of work to do." L stated and the doctor looked at him, slightly irritated, while Mello tried to hide his grin behind his candy bar.

"We'll be finished soon, I need to do a small examination of your most serious wounds and then remove the stitches. I'm sure your work can wait a few more minutes." He answered putting down the file and reaching for gloves. It was then he noticed Mello who smiled sweetly at him.

"This is my ward, Doctor he is concerned for my well being." The doctor nodded and then turned his attention to L as he walked towards the table.

"Now, if you would remove your shirt, Mr. Rue…" L rolled his eyes and complied.

"Don't worry Ryuzaki, I won't peek. Now be a good boy and maybe the nice doctor will give you a lollipop when he's done!" Mello was ready to recoil from L's angry stare, when he noticed a slight twinkle of amusement within that glare and he grinned instead.

L walked out of the examination room and right past the boys without a word, heading directly to the car outside. Mello followed behind and went over to Near and Matt with his report.

"He seems in a thrilling mood, is he okay?" Matt asked and Mello nodded.

"He's fine, he's just aggravated that he had no power against this doctor. He hated every moment of that examination, you know how private he is and there's this guy touching him and prodding him, telling him what he can and cannot do. Not something L takes graciously." They both nodded and followed as he began to walk out of the waiting room.

"But he's healing okay?" Near asked and Mello nodded again.

"He's doing really well according the doctor, he just has to continue to take it relatively easy for the next couple of weeks and he'll be back to normal. I can honestly tell Light that he's got nothing to worry about now."

They were outside and heading towards the car. Watari was standing outside of the car and looked at them with a knowing eye. They all got into the car, knowing it was better to not say anything to L while he was in his mood.

No one said anything until they got back into the apartment and as L headed back into his office without saying anything, his back hunched as his hands were dug deeply into his pockets, Mello stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"L—I know how uncomfortable that was for you so I understand why you're not happy right now, but the bottom line is that we now know you're almost completely healed and that's worth your being a little uncomfortable, isn't it?"

"I need to work for a while before we start getting ready for this dinner. Near, I would appreciate your assistance if you don't mind." Near nodded, happy to do it and headed for L's office. L turned and finally faced Mello who was still holding his.

"I do not believe anything is worth dealing with doctors for any length of time, but if it made you content then something useful came out of it. I knew I was healed, I would have had it no other way, it has impeded my work long enough." Mello let go of L's arm and smiled at him.

"Yea, L doesn't need no stinking doctors." He said laughing and Matt laughed with him and to their great surprise L smiled as well.

"Very well stated." He said and turned back towards his office, then stopped suddenly as he got to the door.

"I did appreciate your company, Mello. Your presence made it a bit more…tolerable." He said quietly without turning around, and then went into his office, the door closing behind him.

Matt walked over to Mello from behind and threw his arms around his neck. Mello reached up and took his hands.

"I'm not used to you being able to handle L so well." Matt said, resting his chin on Mello's shoulder.

"I'm not really, part of it is that L's changed a bit, he's more open to things since being with Light, although he's still fighting it kicking and screaming. He hides a lot of it behind indignation and intelligent fighting words."

"And you hide yours behind bravado and swagger. You two are a lot alike. You were handling him the way I usually handle you." Mello chuckled and turned around so that he was nose to nose with Matt.

"Oh, I like the way you handle me when no one's looking." He said with an evil smirk and Matt leaned forward and kissed him.

"Unfortunately for you I'm more hungry than I am horny, Watari will be in with lunch soon." That made Mello smile even broader.

"Why don't we go over and "help" him." He said and Matt laughed and nodded. It had been a long while since they had terrorized Watari, it was definitely time. They ran out of the door and out to Watari's apartment.

Light had just decided that he waited long enough to get a report about L's appointment and was reaching for his phone when it went off in his hand.

"Detective Yagami." He answered hoping the "Unknown" ID meant it was from home and not something pertaining to the case.

"Good afternoon, Light. I hope I haven't interrupted anything important." Came Watari's crisp tones.

"Not at all, I was just about to call myself. How did it go?"

"Quite well, I understand. Mello went into the examination with him." Light laughed and sat back in his chair.

"Oh THAT must have been interesting!" he said and Watari chuckled.

"Apparently L was his usual self when dealing with the doctor, and of course you know what that means.."

"Oh yeah,"

"But apparently the examination was successful and found only that he is healing very well, all stitches removed and he does not have to return unless he has any problems-which I believe the doctor is just as happy about as L is. He did say he keep a low profile for the next two weeks, just to be cautious." Light sighed in relief; it certainly seemed this nightmare was finally over.

"If Mello is the one who went in with him, why didn't he call me?" Light asked. There was silence from Watari for a moment, and in that silence he could hear in the background the sound of Matt laughing as Mello's colorful language could be heard, albeit muted.

"Mello is occupied at the moment with trying to remove egg from his hair." Watari said simply and Light thought better of asking how that had happened.

"Ah…I see. Well, thank you for calling me with the information, Whammy, my mind wasn't exactly on work until I knew for sure."

"I assumed that would be the case, Light. Please remind everyone that dinner begins at 7:00 so they could begin to arrive by 6:30."

"I will. Good-bye, Whammy." Light said looking around to see if anyone was listening to his conversation.

"Good-bye, Light," Watari said and as he was obviously putting the phone down Light heard, "We could try cutting some of it out." Followed by a litany of profanity that Light didn't know Mello knew and he laughed as he hung up the phone. He was very glad he wasn't there right now.

The front door of the apartment flew open as Mello came stomping back into the apartment, his hair drenched and plastered to his head as Matt followed him, barely able to stand from laughing so hard. Mello turned to glare at him as Matt closed the door behind him.

"I'm glad you find this so fucking funny!" he yelled at him and Matt lifted his goggles to wipe his eyes.

"I'm sorry, it's just hysterical! We forgot how formidable Watari is!" he said and giggled some more. Mello's eyes narrowed dangerously and he walked closer to Matt and pushed him backwards.

"This was meant for you anyway! I've got to change now, there's egg all over my vest."

"I can't help it if I move faster than you do!" Matt answered as Mello continued to move towards him, pushing him every time he got close.

"It's not that funny, asshole!" he yelled and Matt nodded.

"Oh yes it is!" he said and moved away before Mello could push him again. He backed up into the living room, as Mello continued to aim for him, backing into the coffee table, losing his balance and hitting the floor. Mello pounced on him, rubbing his fingers into the egg remnants on his vest and smearing it on Matt's goggles and into his hair. Matt's yelped and reached up, pushing Mello off of him and onto the floor. Now it was Mello's turn to laugh as Matt pulled off his goggles and glared at the mess on them and ran his fingers through his hair.

"You bastard!" he hissed and jumped on Mello, trying to smear what was on his fingers onto Mello's face, and the wrestling match began in earnest with them rolling all over the floor, yelling at each other with an occasional punch for emphasis.

Near and L heard the noise at the same time that Watari was coming through the front door with his trolley. He rolled it to the side and walked over to the two fighting teens, reached down and pulled Matt off of Mello with one hand on the back of his striped shirt, and then grabbed the front of Mello's shirt and hauled him up off of the floor with the other hand.

"You will stop this childish behavior immediately or I will put an end to it you certainly will not appreciate!" he yelled at them as they started to reach towards each other once they were off of the floor continuing to shout at each other.

They both snapped their heads around to stare at Watari; he NEVER raised his voice and it was not only a surprise to them, but actually scary. They both saw a trace of what was underneath that soft spoken; gentlemanly manner he always had, and immediately knew they needed to stop immediately. Once they had calmed down he released them both and it was then they both realized they had been practically lifted off their feet when he was holding them as they both dropped to the ground.

Watari looked down at their gaping faces and reached for a napkin from the trolley to wipe his hands.

"Now I suggest you both go clean up before having lunch and do not continue this…disagreement. Is this understood?"

Both teens nodded vigorously and stood up quickly, turning to leave the living room and head for their room until they noticed L and Near standing at the door of his office. They waited for what they knew would be more reprimanding from him, but he merely smiled as he looked at Watari, nodding his approval. He then turned and walked back into his office; Near stopping long enough to wag his finger at them both and grinning before following L back into the office. However, they didn't dare say anything to Near they were in enough trouble. They continued running to their room as soon as L and Near had disappeared behind the panel.

Watari watched them go and then returned to his trolley, not able to hide the grin that was on his face as he remembered a similar incident about eighteen years prior when he had to pull a young L away from a room that he had littered with the boys who had decided to try and intimidate the young newcomer to Whammy's. Ah yes, he loved his life with these young genii; it was always so unpredictable and interesting.