A/N: sorry if characters seem a little OOC, I tried my best, so please don't flame too much…

i.L.L.

Chapter 7

I'm not going to lie to you. I was completely devastated by the fact that the feelings that I had harbored for so many years were unrequited. But I suppose things were better this way. It would have been wrong on so many levels if he did love me like I loved him, I would have never been able to say no to him and by doing that, I'd be throwing away everything that I had ever said to Darrel. I had vowed him revenge.

How was I going to get revenge for a man I supposedly loved if days after his death, I'm jumping into the arms of my child-hood crush?

"I'm really sorry, though. You're right" I said, glumly. "I hardly known you anymore" I frowned. He frowned too, at my dismay.

"Did I say something bad?" he asked, noticing the other workers in the room shaking their heads.

"No, it's fine. You're completely right, as usual, I was being stupid." I said, cursing myself in my head for blushing slightly.

"You had some information for us?" he asked, sitting in his chair in a strange crouch I had never seen him use before. That was another thing that changed about him. How he sat of all things!

"Yes, I do," I said, finally remembering the real reason I was here. I continued to tell the group of them my theory. I told them the story of what happened to Darrel, watching L closely but his face showed no emotion, only his own face deep in though with his finger in his mouth, the only familiar thing about him.

"That is a very interesting theory… to think, Kira being able to kill by means other than a heart attack…" L pondered out loud, "Though you do realize that there is no proof that Kira was actually behind this, but it has brought a very important matter to out attention"

"What?! What do you mean there's no proof! It's obvious that Kira is behind this!" I exclaimed, since when was L an idiot?

"I mean there's no proof that this is a Kira killing at all, your... Darrel, was it? Could have simply killed himself, though as I said before, it has brought the possibility to our attention." He said calmly. Damn! He was right… again.

"Oh…"I said, sadly.

"We thank you for your information; we hope it will be helpful. I'll have Matsuda escort you out of the building"

"Um, actually, I was wondering if… you could… for old time's sake…" I said.

He stared at me for a moment. Thinking, obviously, when wasn't he? For a moment, I swear I saw his dark eyes soften. They seemed to be the same as they were back when he was my L. I felt my heart rise into my throat. Could he care for me after all?

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, Miss" Sochiro said uneasily.

"No, it's fine." L said, walking over to the door and opening it for me. I walked past into the hallway. He silently closed the door behind him.

We walked down the hotel corridor silently for a moment. His hands in his pocket, eyes forward.

"L…" I said, he stopped and looked at me, "I'm sorry."

"What for?" he asked.

"For just leaving with out telling you, or even saying goodbye." I said, feeling the tears coming again, "if I hadn't done that, things wouldn't have turned out differently. We could still be friends and you would still care whether or not I was beaten by my fiancé or care that you saying that we were strangers hurt more than every punch Darrel had thrown at me!" I found my self yelling, tears streaming down my cheeks. I finally broke down in sobs.

I was sure I was about to fall to the ground as my knees gave out, but I found myself caught in two strong arms and pulled against his chest where I continued to sob.

I buried my face in his shirt again, inhaling his sweet scent in between my sobs. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. His arms tightly secured around me would not allow me to fall to the ground and I was perfectly fine with that. This was exactly how I wanted him to hold me all of those years ago when I first kissed him in his room. He held me as though I was made of glass.

"Marie," he whispered in my ear, "if either should be apologizing, it's myself. I had no idea how much pain I had put you through. I thought that since you left with out even speaking to me, that you didn't care what happened to me. It seemed unfair for me to care so much about you if you didn't for me, so I forced myself to forget you as best as I could. I'm sorry that he hurt you, if he were still alive, I would kill him," he said fiercely, I wanted to defend Darrel, but I remembered how L hated being interrupted and allowed it to pass this time, "I'm sorry that I hurt you," he continued, "If there's any chance that you'll forgive me, I'm willing to do anything."

"L…" I said, looking up at him. His eyes were utterly sincere. I don't know what came over me, then but I found myself doing what I had dreamt of doing for years. I pulled L's face down to my own and pressed my lips once again to his pale mouth.

For the first time in years, that hunger I had been feeling was satisfied as I pulled him closer to myself. But what shocked me the most was that I could feel him kissing me back. The feeling of his lips moving against mine was the greatest in the world. His long arms wrapped around me, pulling me even closer to him than I thought was possible. For once, he didn't push me away.

But the bliss had to end sooner or later. Slowly, he released me. He kept his long-fingered hands on my shoulders, holding me at arms length to examine my face. He softly brushed away the tears that were falling down my face with his pale fingers.

"Marie," he whispered, "You know that I do care about you, right?" he asked, suddenly desperate, "I'm not quite sure in what way yet, and I'm sorry for that, but you need to understand why no one can know of this. Anyone can find information on you at any time. And I can't put you in danger like that. Please, forget that you even saw me here" he pleaded.

I understood where he was coming from, but in my mind I absolutely refused to forget this moment. His sugary taste, his sweet smell, I would remember all of that until the day I died. But, I would never admit that to anyone, let alone him, so I said "I understand." I noticed him relax slightly but I could tell he was seeing through this as my eyes gave away my intentions.

Regardless, he leaned down and placed one last kiss on my lips before whispering, "Thank you" and turning to return to his hotel room, leaving me on the street outside of the hotel.

Of course I would never forget what happened, but I would take it to my grave. I swore to myself that I would see him again soon. And once the Kira case was over, things could be even better than they were when we were young.