Izaya let out a relieved sigh as he drank the coffee in front of him, the warmth going through his entire exhausted body. It felt so good, after desperately needing the caffeine for weeks now, especially in the past week since Celty had found out about Haru. He would be lying if he said he hadn't stressed the first few days, afraid of Celty revealing his secret. But it turned out that his trust in her wasn't misplaced, as she hadn't revealed his secret.

Strangely though, she and him had started texting. At first it started with Celty wanting pictures of Haru, and then it turned into actual conversations. At first, Izaya felt apprehensive about it, but it was actually nice to have a friend.

With that happy thought in mind, he placed the coffee cup down, his eyes turning back to the laptop in front of him. His fingers moved forward, tapping the last few keys on the keyboard, and proudly pressing enter. "There we go!" He declared,"All decoded."

The laptop was grabbed from the side, flipped around to face his boss, Shiki. His brown eyes flickered over the bright screen, checking the data before he shut the laptop, and moved to place it back in it's case.

"Sorry to pull you away so suddenly," He explained,"I know you have a baby to worry about, but getting these codes was very important."

Izaya was a little surprised at the apology, but quickly chuckled, shaking his head. "No no, it's fine," He replied,"I introduced Haru and Namie a while ago, so she's watching him for me."

"Really?" Shiki blanched,"Yagiri Namie is watching your kid? How did you get her to agree to that?"

"Raised her pay,"Izaya said simply,"When she first saw him she thought I had kidnapped him or he was left from a one night stand. After I explained the situation she didn't seem what do do. But she wasn't excited about the idea until I brought up the extra money."

"I can imagine.." Shiki muttered,"And you are sure she won't try and experiment on the baby?"

"Oh she won't," The Raven replied, eyes darkening,"I already told her that if she even tries, there will be lasting consequences."

Shiki raised one sharp eyebrow, before he nodded. This side of Izaya was one that the crime lord hadn't seen. It was a strong, overprotective side. He knew Haru was set for life, because Izaya loved him, and that was something the Raven didn't do easily.

Suddenly, a thought came to Shiki. His lip twitched, before he asked,"So.. How do you think it's going over there?"

Izaya let out a few giggles at the mere thought. With the way Haru was acting towards Namie before he left, he could only imagine how it was going.

Meanwhile.. At Izaya's Penthouse

Namie let out a relieved sigh, shoving the last of the Manila folders into the drawer and slamming it shut. "There. All done," She declared, sitting up in the black computer chair and raising her hands over her head, stretching out her cramped muscles.

Surprisingly, Izaya didn't give her as much work as he normally would. Usually, he liked to mess with her, giving her loads of files and crazy requests. Thankfully, it was just organizing by dates today.. And babysitting the little brat that Izaya had for some reason adopted.

Speaking of the brat… Her eyes flickered to look at the high chair he was in nearby. His plastic bowl and sippy cup were on it, the spoon in his messy hand, but he wasn't eating… Not at all.

Instead, he was glaring straight at her with as much hatred as a baby could muster, a deep frown on his chubby face.

"What?" Namie demanded, not expecting an answer and not getting one. Instead, the baby simply narrowed his eyes, his tiny fist tightening around the blue colored spoon. Namie narrowed her eyes in return, sending an icy glare towards Haru. After a few moments of silence, she again snapped,"What?!"

The little baby continued to stare at him with an accusing glare, as if to say 'you're not my father'. Namie huffed in annoyance, those eyes following her no matter where she went. Finally, the young woman got tired of it,

"Listen, brat," She began, moving to stand in front of his high chair. "I don't want to be babysitting you, just like you don't want to be babysat by me. Once Izaya gets back and pays me, I'm gone and you won't have to see me again. Can we at least be civil until then- AH!"

It was during her small deceleration that Haru had placed his hands on the high chair, and then threw them up into the air. The sudden violent movement sent the bowl off the high chair and slamming straight into the woman's chest. Right after doing so, the baby lost his angry glare, and instead began to burst out laughing at Namie's expense.

Namie's brown eyes narrowed and she growled at the sight of the orange mush all over her shirt. "Alright! That's it!" She yelled,"I don't care what Izaya's stupid notes say, you're taking a nap right now!"

She moved, picking up the baby and holding him as far away from her as possible as she walked up towards Izaya and Haru's room as fast as she could.

It was during this torture called babysitting that Namie decided she was never going to have kids.

Izaya gave a lopsided grin, as he shrugged. "For once in my life, Shiki-San, I honestly have no idea," He declared.

Shiki chuckled in return, sliding his seat back, grabbing his laptop bag, and pushing his chair back in. "Well, I have business to attend to, and I'm sure you want to get back to your son, so I bid you farewell," The criminal boss declared. He pulled a bulged envelope out of his pocket, placing it on Izaya's side of the table. Then, he left the cafe, going to the nearby car to leave without waiting for a response from his informant.

The raven finished off his coffee, knowing he would need it if he was going to stay awake for the rest of the day. Although Haru had started to sleep longer during the night, Izaya had gotten stuck in the routine of waking up periodically during the night. When Haru did wake up, it threw him off even more because he would already have gone back to sleep.

Remembering the envelope, Izaya slide it closer, and opened the fold. There was a large amount of money inside, making Izaya raise his eyebrows in slight surprise. That decoding must have been really important if he paid me this much… The informant thought curiously, before a small smile crawled up his face.

Sliding the envelope in his pocket, he made a thoughtful noise. "Now that I think about it, I think I saw a few things that Haru would love in a store nearby. Might have to make a pitstop on the way home," He declared.

With that idea in mind, he climbed out of his seat and left the cafe, feeling refreshed after his drink. The gentle wind blew through his messy black locks as he wandered towards the store, thinking of the items he could get for his son.

Inside the store, Izaya tried to keep a low profile. Not because any of his enemies were here, but some women could be ruthless when they saw a single father. He had learned that the hard way over the past few weeks.

He lowered his eyes towards the shelves, desperate to ignore the assault of powder colored pink and blues that seemed to be in every baby store.

After looking around for a while, grabbing a few soft snacks and teething rings, he finally found some perfect items. One was a Otter plushie, which stood up by itself and looked absolutely adorable. Haru loved soft, huggable plush toys. This one is perfect! He declared.

Turning his eyes to look elsewhere, he also saw an amazing fox onesie. The fabric was soft, with a hood that had fox ears on top, and a little tail pattern that was attached to the back.

"That's so adorable!" Izaya squeaked, picking it up,"It will match perfectly with his handsome blue eyes!"

Then, the Raven gasped, looking up and dropping his hands. "Oh my god I sound just like my mom.." He whispered in horror, red eyes wide at the realization.

Shaking himself, he quickly gathered the items and moved on, not wanting to think about such things. He grabbed a few more items and paid before he left to go home. He was excited to see Haru, and he knew Namie would be excited to leave. It was just a little walk, and then he'd be back.

He happily greeted the old woman on his way in, stopping to talk for a little while before he went up the elevator. With a small skip in his step, he turned the corner only to freeze up at the sight.

The knob was broken, and the door was open..

Panic surged through the raven, dropping the bag in his hands as he ran to the door, throwing it open to look inside of his home as a shocked gasp escaped him.

Everything was destroyed. His computers lay on the floor in broken piles, the desk was smashed, his couches torn apart, and almost everything he owned broken apart on the floor. There was blood splatters.. and in the middle of the torn up couch was..

"Namie!" He whispered, moving and kneeling down to lift her limp body up, noticing the gash on her head and blood dripping down it as well. She was completely unconscious.

What's happening? Who's done this? Panic surged forward once more. Haru, I have to get to Haru-

"Well, well," A shaky, enraged voice whispered,"There you are, you fucking bastard!"

Izaya whipped his head around, seeing a middle aged man standing there, a large knife in one hand; his other one bleeding pretty badly. Izaya quickly lowered namie and stood up, his hand reaching for the switchblade in his pocket and-

His pocket was empty..

The switchblade was in his other jacket.

Oh no..

The man seemed to read Izaya's thoughts, and let out a frantic laugh. "HA! How does it feel, motherfucker!? To be completely helpless!? Just like I was when you took EVERYTHING FROM ME!" He yelled.

Izaya recognized the man now. "I didn't take everything from you, you were abusing your family enough that they called me for a solution. It was all your fault!" He declared.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT THEM! YOU BASTARD!" He screeched, running forward and slashing at Izaya.

The raven couldn't react fast enough, out of practice because of raising Haru, and could only jump back as blood welled from the wound.

Thinking quickly, Izaya threw his leg up, kicking the man and knocking him down the the ground. The knife tumbled away, and Izaya ran towards it as fast as he could. The man's brown eyes locked onto him instantly, however, and threw himself up, slamming straight into Izaya's stomach. The raven let out a pained cough as he fell into the debris of his desk.

The man grabbed the front of his shirt, giving the dazed raven no time to react as he let out a guttural yell, throwing the body against one of the heavy glass bookshelves. It wobbled, already half broken from the man's rampage, before falling on top of the raven who failed to move completely away in time. The glass shattering and flying all over.

The raven screamed in pain, but not from the glass. During the fall, the weight slammed onto his leg, breaking it as if it were a simple twig. Izaya's body suddenly seemed to give out, panting and wide eyes staring up at the insane man.

His dark eyes looked over the informant like prey, laughing excitedly. "Finally! Finally!" He cried,"Now you're all mine! Now I can make you SUFFER!"

With quick, uncoordinated speed, his knife slammed down into the raven's left shoulder, causing another scream to escape him. This seemed to egg the man on, making him pull the knife out before stabbing Izaya's arm and bringing the knife up and down, again and again. Stabbing as much as he could, missing several times but laughing all the same.

His vision was fading out as pain exploded throughout him. Just as Izaya thought he might die, a noise ran through the silent room. A noise that made the man stop, and look up.

It was a baby's cry.

The man's sickly grin seemed to grow even more. "Oh! Oh this is too good!" He laughed,"THIS IS PERFECT!"

He dashed up the stairs, leaving Izaya where he was. But the raven wasn't finished yet. With the simple change, something began to flow through Izaya, a rageful, adrenaline filled feeling he'd never had before. That man was trying to hurt Haru.

That man was trying to hurt his son.

With strength he somehow found, and adrenaline coursing through him, Izaya forced the book shelf off, grunting and growling. After escaping the crunched furniture, he limped up the stairs as fast as humanly possible.

When he turned into his room, he saw the man, holding Haru by his shirt and holding him up high. The baby was screaming, frantically struggling with a red face. When the man saw movement in the doorway, His animalistic eyes turned towards the raven, and he laughed.

"Now you'll know! You'll know how it feels to have EVERYTHING TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU!" He screamed again, pulling his other arm back.

Time seemed to suddenly slow down as Izaya moved on instinct. He threw himself forward, putting weight on his injured leg without care, and slamming into the man as fast as he could. He then turned, grabbing his son with one hand and turning his injured hand to slam into the man's face in a desperate attempt to throw him off.

The man seemed to freak out, screaming and slashing the knife in random directions. Izaya could feel the slashes, the blood in his vision, but he felt no pain. All he felt was the need to protect Haru at any cost.

Izaya then pushed his back against the man, forcing all his weight against the man as hard as he could. The man fall to the ground in his blind rage, not paying attention to Izaya's next move.

The raven then placed Haru down, crawling over to the man. A rage flew through Izaya as he grabbed the man by his neck, bringing his head up before slamming him back down. Over and over and over. He could hear the crack of the skull, but he didn't stop.

"Don't. Touch. My. Son!" He yelled, slamming his head down one last time with force. The man's head bounced once, before going limp with the rest of his body. If the pool of blood underneath him was any indication, he wasn't going to get back up.

Izaya knelt there, panting weakly for a few moments. But then, the adrenaline faded away all at once. Pain exploded once more, causing Izaya to groan out and fall to his side. His leg was hot ice, his stab wounds burned like flames, and for some reason he couldn't open his right eye. It hurts so much.. It hurts..

"Dada..?"

Izaya opened his left eye, seeing Haru sitting up and staring at him frantically. "Dada.. Dada!" He cried again.

The baby then leaned forward, his hands landing on the ground. He shifted his feet so he was on his knees.. And began to crawl. Izaya's eye widened, feeling tears fill his eyes. His son was crawling.. He was crawling!

Haru crawled slowly towards Izaya, who reached his hand out and gently pulled the baby to his chest. Haru's hands instantly grabbed the torn shirt, burying his face in it, curling up, and sobbing vocally. "Dada.." He repeated over and over again.

Despite the pain he was in, Izaya held the baby as close as possible, one hand running through his shaggy hair. "It's okay, Haru," The Raven whispered,"Everything is going to be okay.."

Izaya's bloodied hand reached into his pocket, pulling out his slightly cracked phone. Pulling up his contacts, he shakily called the only person he could think of.

At the dial tone, he shakily asked,"Hey.. Celty? I need help.. Badly.. Please- I'm at home and- Urgk!"

Pain flew through his arm, as it spasmed, sending the phone out of his hand and clattering someone else. This caused Haru to start to shake again, frantic sobs and cries escaping him once more.

Izaya forced the arm to move, pulling Haru closer with both of them and shushing the child gently. The baby immediately calmed down, breathing slightly hard.

"It's okay.." Izaya whispered again, as black tendrils began to fill his vision. He felt dizzy, but he didn't know what it was from. He didn't care, Haru was okay, that's all that mattered.

The baby began to calm, Izaya's hands slowing down as his body gave out. But he needed Haru to be alright, so he kept going.

"You're alright.."

"We're okay.."

"Everything will be alright.."

Until everything faded to black..