A/N: One more chapter for the night!

Enjoy, review if you can, and I'll see you all at the next chapter!

(Mello P.O.V)

I wasn't exactly up to full speed at the moment, but I was enjoying time with my family again. To me, that was all I needed.

The moment I came out of my room for the first time, feeling no pain at all, I was bombarded with hugs from my kids. Lucas, especially, seemed to be happy about my speedy recovery. I know I put a lot on his shoulders to handle, but it was because I trusted him so heartily that I gave him all this responsibility. And, other than the pot incident – which I blame on his father – he had done well. Everything was nice and well kept, no one got injured, and everyone was happy.

Now, with me on my feet more, I decided to get back to work. With helping L and Light once more. It wasn't that straining of a job, looking over files and repeating information back to the two at their headquarters, but I was still tired from having to go through treatment. Not to mention Watari's passing was… well… it took its toll on all of us.

L had been saddened by the loss but he didn't show it too much. Wammy had been his father-figure after all, but I doubted that the old man would have wanted L to grieve for him so painfully. Wammy even made it fully aware that he didn't want a funeral or a service after his passing. So L had the man cremated and set next to his wife where her ashes also remained. The woman had never met L, but Wammy always said that if she had, she would have loved him like her own son.

After the passing, everything just got quieter around the family. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that L started up cases once more and a new Watari had to be in place for Wammy. This new Watari had his voice disguised with a microphone, and wasn't even known as 'Watari' anymore. The new name for him had now become… Raito.

None of us were surprised.

Light had always ben beside L and took care of him when Wammy couldn't. It was only fitting that the man take his place. Not to mention it had been Light who was out and about helping L when Wammy had come down with his illness. Right before he passed on, he made Light promise him to continue to take care of L when he inevitably passed. And, of course, Light agreed.

So, there was no longer a Watari… but now there was Ratio. And on his first mission he even managed to fool his own father in Japan while working on a case. Light did eventually let his father in on the secret, but it came as a shock to hear that Watari had passed on. What shocked me was that no one guessed that it was Light under the disguise the moment he uttered the name 'Ratio'. I mean, how obvious can he get with that name? He literally just said his own name but in a different symbol.

I still laugh at his name to this day, too. Moon Yagami? So why do they call him Light if his name is literally Moon? I just don't get it.

I wouldn't even bring up his last name for fear he might hit me. Yag-a- mi? I'm a gay? Priceless!

I smiled to myself at this as I flipped through the file before the man himself walked into the Manor.

He instantly caught my smile the moment he stepped foot into the living room. "Mello, why the grin?"

I didn't tell him directly. "It's nothing, Yagami."

He knew this was odd behaviour, even for me, but decided not to pursue further. "Whatever. Listen, L needs to know your opinion on the current case. After this is all done we have an assignment involving another artifact in the mythical world. We went back to that Dais we found years ago and found something interesting."

I growled. "Just don't let the kids know. They'll want to be all over it and you know that for a fact."

"Only Lara knows about it and that's only because she'd the one who uncovered it. She believes she may have found out where Thor's hammer is."

I jolted slightly at this. "Thor's hammer? Like as is Thor the god of thunder?"

"Exactly. But we're not sure yet. Your old friend Rottwood may have also uncovered the same thing, but he hasn't been acting up lately since he's been touring around and giving lavish speeches in institutes and historic museums. He's been much more active than us in the archeology world, and your father's beginning to get pretty upset."

I hummed at this before relaxing back into my seat on the couch. "I suppose we'll have to bring back some evidence for my father to display this time."

"But not the hammer itself, you mean."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Bring a god's deadly weapon back into the world of the mortals? Only a moron would do something like that. A moron named Rottwood."

"Well, thankfully he hasn't decoded the text like we have." The, now beginning to grey, brunette said happily as he took the files from me. "I'll make sure L gets this straight away. Anything you want to add?"

"Yeah, tell him to send me harder cases."

He merely smiled as he made for the exit, but not before making sure to plant a kiss on my head like when I was younger.

Honestly, I'm reaching my forties and the man is still treating me like a child.

…well, I guess it's what parents just do. Thankfully I had my own kids to embarrass and torture in front of their new school friends.

It looked as though school was going well for them. Two months in and none of them had been expelled yet. And more than half of them had a few new friends.

Ink didn't exactly count, but he'd managed to make a few friends at the Wammy house while studying there. It wasn't that strong of a bond considering he didn't much like to be bothered as is, but they were still kind. Roxanne mentioned a few friends from her drama class, Zephyr mostly, and even brought the dark haired boy home to work on a scene together. Matt was present for most of the time but I got him out of there and let the two have their alone time together for a bit before Zephyr had to go home. I promised Roxanne that I'd tie up her father the next time he was invited over and she hugged me in gratitude.

Mason brought home a few friends from his computer animation course, and Andrei brought one or two from art class. There was one more friend that he had that came over later than the others, I believe his name was Tyler, was a taller young man who looked like your regular beach boy body builder, but Andrei let him in anyway. Upon getting to know him further I couldn't help but see the small blush on the teens face whenever Andrei noticed him. Sure, this kid was… not Wammy house material. But he was sweet and kind to my little Andrei. But, one false move that involved my son getting hurt…

…and I had no problem popping his head clean off his shoulders.

I may be thin and held the grace that easily resembled the female form, but mess with my children and I'd start ripping eyes right out of their sockets!

…so… I was sort of a mommy, in a sense… but stronger and more than able to kill and not be found out by police. Hell, Light and L might just help me hide the body.

As for Lucas, he never really brought anyone home. He told me it was because no one deserved his attention when all they liked him for was his winning in the soccer matches. Not only that, but he was just tired of all the females gushing over him and making a scene whenever he was just trying to eat his lunch. I guess I could understand that, but I still wished he'd loosen up a bit and start friend searching or… something.

As for Melina…

…well…

…she was a lot like me at her age.

Heads turned wherever she went, and she was getting texts and phone calls every few minutes asking if she wanted to go out on a date or just hang out with some of the other girls. Now, I can't say that ALL of that was me at her age… but I distinctly remember getting hit on constantly for me looking like a female. Years later, I'm reaching my forties, and men still thought I was a female. I blame the hair… and the toned body… and leather…

…

…I did it to myself, and I more than admit it.

I really didn't know how to feel about my daughter being eye candy all over the school, but the fact still remained that she didn't bring any random boys home, she didn't go out at the drop of a text, she always stayed for family dinners, and she wasn't sneaking out at night to go partying. So why would I need to worry?

I hummed at this slightly before sitting up a bit. Melina was strong in her ways, but was she strong mentally? What about peer pressure or bullying? Could she handle any of it?

I decided to get up and go find Matt to talk to him about this. Out of all my kids I was worried about her the most. Yes, she could hold her own in a fight, but in a world when girls spoke about each other behind their backs… that's where my worries stemmed.

Maybe I was being overprotective again… but I just had a bad feeling about all of this.

(Melina P.O.V)

I closed my locker and was just about to leave for the day when I heard someone speak.

"Melina, right?"

I turned to my left to see a rather tall, handsome young man looking down at me. It was another member from my brother's soccer team, but this one was one of my favourites to look at.

Cedric was tall, brown haired, and nicely toned. He never really said much to me before since he was with another cheerleader in the squad, but I always ogled him from afar anytime he decided to come and surprise Christina. Oddly enough, those visits were more frequent after I joined the squad. The other girls were saying it was because he loved her so much, but to be honest I highly doubted he was staring at her and her alone when we practiced. More than enough times I caught him eyeing me from the bleachers while we practiced, and it didn't help matters that I was one of the only girls that could do flips and handsprings on a dime thanks to my dad teaching me when I was much younger.

I bit down on my lip before answering. "And you're Cedric, correct? Christina's boyfriend?"

He shrugged. "Well… ex-boyfriend now."

JACKPOT!

"Oh, I'm sorry." I feigned sympathy. "What happened?"

He chuckled slightly. "She's just not my type. The squeals and constant texting was starting to get to me."

"Texting? What do you mean by that?"

He grumbled. "She wouldn't get off of her phone for the life of her. It was just annoying and not worth my time. So I broke up with her. Actually, I thought you'd be pretty happy."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why would I be happy about it?"

He got a little closer to me now. "Because… you know… we can go out now."

I backed away from him. "Look, I'm flattered that you want to date me, but last I checked you two were together this morning. So that means you broke up with her just recently. And I'm not going to start dating someone right when they break up with their girlfriend. I have more standards than that."

"Come on! Christina doesn't care!"

"No!" I said angrily. "I'm not that cruel, and I won't turn on Christina like that especially when she just finished saying this morning how much she loved you!"

"Oh please, she's so over-dramatic!" He said as he grabbed my wrist. "Let's just go get coffee or something!"

I tried to wriggle away, but he only tightened his grip. It wasn't until he backed me up against the lockers that I'd had to use force. One kick to the crotch was all he needed and he was down for the count.

I turned away from him before he could say anything more and walked away, feeling my anger grow. I had much better standards than this and I wouldn't give in to somebody just because I had had a slight crush on them. Cedric was not worth it either if this was how he chose to view relationships. Like a wrapper that could be discarded at any point in time. Disgusting. Not to mention his forceful behaviour!

My father was not going to be pleased when I told him about this. And that was just the red headed one.