Visiting

A&N: I have imagined many times what would happen to Mello if Ohba had let Mello be alive. I always wanted to write this scene. I have to post it in this collection because I don't know how to categorise this story. Please excuse some common sense errors in this chapter.

Halle peered through the window at each person walking down the hallway, with her chin propped up. The fingers of her other hand tapped unrhythmically on the table. Only 15 minutes had passed since she was brought into the visiting room that smelled of mildew, yet she felt like she had been waiting a century.

Suddenly, a familiar figure passed by the window. The door was pushed open before she could see him clearly. The blonde walked in as his eyes flashed for an instant and returned to their usual emotionless look.

"Hey!" Halle tried to make her voice sound more relaxed.

Mello looked at her and didn't reciprocate, walking straight over to her with a clunking sound issuing from below his feet. Halle became aware of the fact that not only were Mello's hands handcuffed, but his feet were cuffed as well. The jailer locked his handcuffs to the table and left.

Halle noticed that Mello looked much thinner than before, especially in the baggy prison uniform, which made the obvious hollows under his cheekbones. Mello was dressed in an ill-fitting but clean prison uniform, with his hair neatly trimmed and his skin of unscarred half face smooth and clear. He didn't have the appearance of a disheveled and unshaven man he showed last time.

"Are you at it again? I told you not to come here, Halle." Mello's slightly irritated voice pulled Halle back from her musings.

"Mello. How are you these days?" Halle said with concern.

"Are you trying to get a prisoner to say he's having a good time at the jail?" Mello sneered, cocking his head.

Halle forced a stiff smile. "You've been transferred to a single cell, haven't you?"

Mello looked around the room where they were now, snorting. "Yeah. Thanks to Agent Lidner."

Mello was extradited back to the United States by non-public way. Since Halle had no relation to him and was not investigators or his lawyer, she was not supposed to visit him at the jail. Halle, considering herself a resourceful former CIA agent, had only managed to get them to meet in a big meeting room where a table separated into dozens of zones by glass wall, where they had talked via a telephone for five minutes, visible to other prisoners and visitors. She had to get access to meet Mello alone at a visiting room under the privileges from Near, the successor of L.

"I brought some books to you…"

"I've been reading…."

"I've got chocolate for you. Do you need any articles for daily use? I'll get someone to bring in…"

"What have you been doing? Halle." Mello moved back a little and leaned back in her chair. "Are you guys still working for Near?"

"There's a whole series of follow-ups waiting for SPK to deal with." Halle said frankly.

"Including my affairs?"

Halle opened her mouth, but fell silent. She withheld herself from telling Mello the coldness Near showed when she went to Near for Mello but Near refused to interfere the judicial process, even though she knew Near never want Mello being reduced to this kind of situation. She gave Mello a complicated look. "I've heard that the time for your trial has been set. Next month."

"The charges are what I said last time."

"Would they hang me?" Mello interrupted Halle.

Halle widened her eyes and muttered. "I don't think so."

"Give me a hundreds-of-year sentence?" The corners of Mello's mouth curled up in a self-deprecating grin.

Halle hesitated for a moment and nodded. "Well ... but ..."

"I knew I would see this day when I intended to join the Mafia." Mello said calmly as his manner and words made him seem maturer than before. "You don't need to come here specially for that."

"I just want to tell you the prosecution progress." Halle paused for a moment and continued as if with great determination. "Why do you refuse to cooperate with your attorney?"

"He just asked me to rehash everything I've done over and over again."

"Then do what he says. It's his job. He's helping you." Halle leaned forward unconsciously, her stomach against the edge of the greasy tabletop.

"I never asked you to get a lawyer for me." Mello raised his voice suddenly. "What will happen to me has nothing to do with Near. He picked the wrong person to express his sympathy."

Halle froze, her shoulders slumping. "You know Near is not like that. You have the right to an attorney."

Mello stared into Halle with cold eyes , just like he had done when they first met at her flat. "Of course, it has nothing to do with you, either, Halle."

Halle's eyes widened, filled with incredulity. "Mello…"

Mello pressed the red button on the table and spoke loudly, glancing at the monitors on the ceiling. "It's over. Take me back."

Halle stood up with her hands on the table, and said anxiously. "Mello, what the hell is the matter with you? Why do you resist it all?"

The jailer came in and made Mello's handcuffs disconnect from the table. Mello stopped as he walked over the threshold. "Halle, don't come here again. I don't need any staff. It wouldn't be good for you if you were seen coming to visit a guy with such an identity." Then he left the room without looking back. Halle placed her hand on her brows, sighing.

Mello lay on his bed staring at the ceiling after returning to his cell. A few inmates whistled at him as he walked through the hallway earlier. One of them teased maliciously. "That blonde chick came to you again. How many times have you shagged her?" Mello frowned in disgust at the thought. In fact, the moment he saw Halle's eyes, he knew that Halle came to him of her own free will, rather than followed Near's order. But he couldn't figure out why Halle wouldn't be willing to admit.