A/N: Aloha!

Okay, I'm sorry this update is late. I was going to update Friday night, but then I went to a restaurant with two of my friends and ate some REALLY nasty food that gave me a stomach bug, and I was throwing up for two days straight. I did go on the computer, but I was basically on Facebook chatting with friends the whole time cause I wasn't in the mood for editing the chapter. On Monday I had a lot of homework, on Tuesday I had to finish a book report book and finish my homework, and tonight I finally update. Sorry my sickness got in the way. I'm never going back to that stinkin' restaurant ever again. :P

Anyways, I make it up to you by not leaving that much of an epic cliff hanger. :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Death Note or any of its characters. In this chapter, I only own Rose, Ricky, Anna, and Nora.

Please forgive me for updating late! Enjoy, read, and review! ^-^

Partners

Rose inhaled deeply as she stared at the clock on the wall, then the envelope on her desk. She discovered it when she arrived back from her lunch break. It was just sitting on the keyboard of her laptop when she had opened it.

Wammy's House
74 Lansdowne Avenue
Winchester, England SO23

Tell them Watari sent you.

A flight to England would be almost eight hours. It was too far from Los Angeles. This forced Rose to reconsider for a second, until she remembered it wasn't up to her anymore. She's had already chosen to meet L at the location given. It was too late to change plans.

Rose didn't want to leave Ricky alone of all things. When she had picked him up from school he was more depressed than usual. She tried her best to get his mind off of his first day, but he only stormed up to his room and locked the door. She had only told him she was leaving that morning. He had strongly protested. She had never seen him so furious.

The tired woman glanced up at the clock again. It was time to pick up her son from school, then head to the airport. She stood up and packed up her things, exiting her office and locking the door behind her.

"Here we go..." She sighed under her breath as she headed for the elevator.

Anna Carpenter was born and raised in Augsburg, Germany with an abandoned single mother, four sisters, and three brothers. Since she was the oldest, her exhausted mother was always nagging her to help her with all the chores. But Anna didn't want to do chores. The more her mother barked at her to help, the more Anna rebelled. She became extremely stubborn due to this, which made it almost impossible for L to get any information out of the young woman.

She was as quiet as a mouse. She did nothing but sit there, her narrowed, leafy eyes burning straight into the detective's skull. The tensity in them slightly disturbed him. It was like she was a silent statue glaring into his soul.

L gave up. He had tried everything. It was useless.

It was the morning of Thursday, September 5th, the day after Anna Carpenter's arrest. Watari finally arrived back from Los Angeles after delivering the location of Wammy's House to Cassandra Rosary. He entered Roger's office to find the great detective L standing in the center of the room, staring at the ceiling.

"Ms. Rosary should arrive soon," Watari informed him.

L's gaze snapped to Watari. "Perfect timing. I've already got a job for her."

That afternoon in the secretary office, Nora, a young woman from Tommungs, Sweden, answered a buzz coming from the Wammy's House gate. She turned her microphone on. "Please state your name and business." She said calmly.

"Cassandra Rosary." The woman at the gate said. "I'm from Los Angeles. I was asked to come here by a man named Watari."

Watari. That was always the key word. Whenever someone approached the gates of Wammy's House that Nora was not warned about, she listened for Watari's name. If it didn't come up, she'd tell them to have a nice day. Nora smiled lightly, though aware the visitor couldn't see her. "Wait right there." She ordered, switching off the microphone. She got up from her chair, grabbed the large key hanging from the wall to her left, and exited the office, sauntering through the corridors until she reached the front doors.

Once outside, she headed for the gate, clutching the key in the palm of her hand. She smiled at the brown-haired woman waiting at the other side. "I'll open the gate for you," Nora told her.

Holding the two gates together was a large padlock. Nora took the padlock and stuck the key in the hole, turning it, then pulling it out. It unlatched. Nora then pulled one of the gates open, signaling for Cassandra Rosary to enter. She did so. Nora closed the gate behind her, securing the padlock back in it's place.

"I'm sorry that took so long," She apologized, "We plan on installing an automatic lock sometime in the future, but for now, this is all we have."

Rose shook her head. "It's no problem at all."

"Let me take you where you need to be, Ms. Rosary." Nora lead Rose to the front entrance.

Rose took in the inside of the building with great interest. It felt warm, like home. She guessed it was supposed to feel that way to make the orphans feel more comfortable. It was nice.

But why would L want to meet her here, of all places?

Rose continued to follow Nora down the hall, unsure of where she was going. She noticed that children of various ages would run by every once in a while, either laughing or panting. It only made Rose wonder more.

Nora stopped at the door to Roger's office. She turned to Rose. "Just go right on in." She smiled warmly before she turned and left the Los Angeles detective standing in front of the door.

Rose knew someone was waiting for her beyond the wooden frame. Was it L? Only one way to find out, she thought as she clutched the handle and turned it gently, pushing the door open.

When she entered the room, the first thing that caught her off guard was a man sitting at the desk. He was an extremely pale Japanese man with large, gray panda eyes that had black rings circled under them, as if he never had an inch of sleep in his life. His raven black hair was a complete mess on his head, which matched his posture. His feet were up on the chair, and the palms of his hands were rested on his knee caps. His appearance made it difficult to determine his age, but Rose guessed around twenty or so. His gaze met hers the second she walked in the room.

It took Rose a moment to notice the child sitting next to him. He was a small blond boy, maybe around ten or eleven. He had kind of a feminine bob cut that ended just above his shoulders, but Rose could tell from his face that he wasn't a girl. He was sitting in a computer desk chair, which gave him the liberty to spin in circles as many times as he wanted. He didn't stop, not even when Rose entered the room. Both of the boys were eating chocolate bars.

Rose was prepared to stand there awkwardly and just stare at the two, but the raven haired man broke the silence by gesturing to the chair in front of the desk. "Please, take a seat, Rose."

The mildly disturbed woman approached the seat offered to her and obeyed. The man stuck out his arm to grab the chair the young boy was spinning in, stopping it in it's tracks. The boy sat still.

Suddenly, realization slapped Rose across the face. Her eyes widened at the man. "Are you L?" She asked in shock.

He snapped off a piece of his chocolate bar with his surprisingly white teeth. Once he swallowed, he spoke. "Yes. I'm glad you were able to make it."

Rose was still surprised. Truthfully, she didn't exactly believe L when he told her they'd meet face to face. She expected a conversation with a computer screen, like all the others. But she was wrong. She was sitting right in front of the true L, the human being. His appearance was suddenly making sense to her. He was some sort of a mad genius.

L picked up a tea kettle that had been sitting on the side of the desk with two fingers and poured some into the cup that sat before him, taking another bite of his chocolate. He then held it out to the cup that sat before Rose, which she had not noticed until now. "Care for some?"

"Um... Yes, please." Rose nodded. L poured some of the tea into her cup, then placed it back in its rightful spot. Rose took a sip. When she put down her cup, she noticed L was staring at her in utter shock.

"What?" She asked, taken aback.

"You don't put sugar in your tea?" His tone made it sound like a crime. Rose instinctively leaned away from the detective a little bit, shaking her head slowly. She didn't like sugar at all. Too sweet for her.

"But without sugar, it's so bland..." L reached for the bowl of sugar cubes, grabbing a handful and dropping it into his tea all at once, then stirring it slowly.

Rose shifted uncomfortably in her chair, then finally spoke. "So what is this personal situation you spoke of, L?" She asked.

L took a small sip of his tea, then set both the cup and the chocolate bar down on the desk. He pointed to the top drawer on the boy's side of the desk. "Mello, could you get the file out of that drawer for me?" He asked the boy. Mello nodded and opened the drawer, pulling out the case file and handing them to L. "Thank you."

L turned his gaze to Rose. "This orphanage isn't just an orphanage for gifted children," L explained. "No one is supposed to know this, but it was actually established by Watari years old. It's true purpose is to train intelligent minds so one of them can become the next L after I'm gone." He held the thin folder out to Rose, who took it and opened it.

Clipped to the corner of the page by a paperclip was a photograph of a young boy with messy white hair and pale skin. His eyes were similar to L's panda eyes, only they were much more empty, almost completely drained of emotion. And Rose thought nothing could surprise her after witnessing L. But an emotionless albino child? She had never seen anything like it.

"This is Near," L continued, "His scores are higher than anyone else in the school. He's by far the most brilliant mind out of all, and one of two most likely to succeed me. About three days ago, he was kidnapped."

Rose looked up at L for a moment, then back at the file. She scanned the information.

RIVER, NATE
CODENAME: NEAR
DOB: AUGUST 24, 1990
SEX: MALE
RACE: CAUCASIAN
DATE OF ARRIVAL: DECEMBER 13, 1995

"Tell me, Rose," L interrupted. "What is your son like?"

Rose's head snapped up to look at him. She seemed puzzled. "Ricky? Well... he's different." She didn't appear comfortable with the subject.

"I know, he's gay." L stated.

Rose sighed and nodded. "It's tough for him at school to..."

"That wasn't what I meant," L continued, "I meant what is your son like through your eyes?"

Rose nodded, understanding. "He's certainly special to me." She replied, "I'd give up my life for him if the situation ever called for it."

L nodded. "Like any mother would," He said, taking his last sip of tea. "Rose, I grew up in this orphanage. This is my home. I've always felt attached to the children here. They're like my family. I feel exactly the same about each of them as you do for Ricky. Which is why this situation is unacceptable to me. I'll do whatever I can to make sure Near is safe once again."

Rose looked down at the picture of the boy again, then back up at L. "So you want me to... solve the case?" She asked.

L shook his head in reply. "Not exactly," he clarified, "I request that you assist me with the case. We'll become partners. I'm desperate for help, and I think you're just the type of person I need. I know for a fact I can't do something like this alone, for it will require physical action, which I'm not used to. Does this work for you?"

Rose smiled and nodded. She felt more comfortable with the idea of working alongside him, rather than working for him. It made her see that this wasn't just another case to him; it was personal, and he was going to take serious action. "Alright then, L." She said, "What are you're leads on the case so far?"

L stuck his hand out, once again, to stop Mello from spinning in his chair. "This is Mello," he said, "He is the other of my two most likely successors, and is currently acting as my assistant. His rankings are the second highest on the charts. Yesterday, right after I contacted you, a plot to kidnap him was attempted, as well. We've arrested the culprit, whom we also believe is involved in Near's kidnapping. Turn the page," He pointed to the file that still rested in Rose's lap. She moved the young boy's profile to reveal the profile of a young woman with long, shiny black hair and leafy green eyes.

"That is Anna Carpenter," L explained as Rose scanned the data of the woman. "She is one of the orphanage handler, Roger's, assistants. She looks after a certain age group of orphans. She's currently being held in the Winchester Police Station for questioning. Unfortunately, she's an extremely stubborn woman. She won't give me any information, no matter what I do to try and make her crack. The problem is, I have little experience with interviewing suspects. I understand you are quite skilled in that field?"

Rose placed the papers back into the folder and closed it, placing it on the desk. "I'll see what I can do."

A/N: Hm... I like that chapter for some strange reason.

Yes, Near's birthday is off by a year. His real birthday is August 24, 1991, but I kinda wanted him to be a year younger than Mello rather than two years younger. Eight seems too young to me. Nine seems just right. And if you notice, I purposely put Near's arrival date on Mello's sixth birthday. I feel bad for doing that, but I thought it was quite funny to do that to Mello. XD

I'll try to get to editing the next chapter sooner this time so I can update faster. I have a book report due soon, so it's kinda difficult, but I'll do my best. In the meantime, as we all know, HALLOWEEN is coming up! Yeeeaaahhh! :D I want to know if you peeps are dressing up, and if so, what are you gonna be? Who are you going with and where? What do you plan to do? I'm probably gonna go Trick-or-Treating with my friend in her neighborhood. I'm going to be an undead fairy, and she's going to be a zombie version of the skeleton guy on the cover of the My Chemical Romance album "Welcome to the Black Parade," because she loves MCR so much. And we might have a party... Who knows. :)

Anyways, review and have a super awesome day! :D

~Mima Roses