A/N: Special thanks to my super fast beta Alkirian who will continue to help me throughout the rest of this fic! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of the characters except for the OCs.

CHAPTER 14

Mello

Valerie's expression, which had been blatantly hopeful at first, ceased into a devastated look the moment I gave her my response. Her shoulders fell down, and she backed away. I watched as she tried hard not to show her dismay openly, but there's no use hiding anything from me. Like I said, my eyes had been trained to see what mediocrities couldn't.

And just then, when she asked my permission, frankly I saw no gesture, facial expressions, nor muscle twitch that indicated something was off. I knew she was being honest on her intention; calling her parents to inform them her whereabouts, with no other funny tricks under her sleeves. She wasn't a good liar from the start after all.

I did feel guilty that I didn't grant my permission right away. Especially when I knew she was desperate. This was about her family; her parents would've been worried sick of her if they knew about the news, and so did her. I wasn't a heartless bastard—I never grew up with my birth family, but I did know what it's like to have a family member who cared about you, whom you also returned the affection. If I didn't have the slightest of any of that, I wouldn't have been so bloody frustrated and outraged about Rod and how he had taken the life of the only person who had been kind to me in my Mafia days, the only father figure I had ever known.

The only thing that prevented me from giving my permission was because I also knew there was a risk here. Not just for me or for Matt, but also for her. I had involved a total of two persons into my personal business when I originally never planned for a third party. Remind me again about what was intentionally meant as a mere short exam by a complete stranger, ended up with the same stranger almost died in a fire and I became a pathetic cripple?

There's no way I would have the same accident happened for the second time. No fucking way.

...

Or maybe Matt was right.

Maybe I was only being paranoid? Or maybe, the whole paranoia thing was simply the heroin's doing?

That's why I had to talk the matter over with him first.

And secretly, deep down, I had to admit that I did want to help the girl. Matt could talk me through things like this, like what he'd been doing effortlessly all the time since we knew each other. He had been my loyal companion, my best friend since I never knew the Mafia, and I greatly treasured him for that. I knew I didn't always listen to him, but I couldn't deny that most of the time he was right.

"Oh. Um, alright..."

Valerie's tiny voice disrupted my short muse. Her eyes were downcast. "Let's pick up your prescriptions at the pharmacy and meet Matt at the car. Here—let me help you…"

She helped me standing up, but for some reason deliberately choosing not to look at me in the eye. Not even when she spoke about picking up my prescriptions. Not even when we made our way out of the urgent care. We didn't even talk when she walked me through the hallways.

Not that it bothered me, but it certainly caught my attention. If she was upset with my decision then fine, have your way, curse me and yell at me all you want like I care. Hell, if that was the case, that'd be actually understandable.

But I didn't saw that on her face. Anxiety, yeah. Sadness, no doubt. But no anger. Instead...

What's with the shame?

Valerie

We took a short trip to the hospital pharmacy to pick up Mello's prescriptions. I aided Mello on walking like before, only this time I refrained from making any eye contact with him. I just... I couldn't bring myself for any eye contact. It was hard to choose the right words, but if I really had to explain... I felt like I had embarrassed myself in front of the ex-Mafioso.

I felt ashamed for being naïve.

For a second there, I almost thought that he was really going to allow me to call my parents. I had to admit that the way we communicated had been slightly less uncomfortable compared to when I first met him. I didn't know what might have been the reason: was it because we, in some way, owed each other our lives? Was it because I was getting used to his snide remarks? Was it because we were in a public place and he didn't have his gun to speak for himself? Or was it simply because we were having actual conversations between two persons; not between an abductor and a hostage? I couldn't have known. But we did have a better progress on exchanging a word or two to each other.

And that was what apparently had boosted my expectation. I felt so, so stupid—I felt like an idiot for believing that since we had communicated better, Mello would just drop these whole things behind and let me do whatever I wanted, especially in a worrisome situation like this. I should have known better that that. And there I was, getting my hopes up over a couple of chit-chats...

I wasn't his friend. I wasn't an acquaintance. I was an outsider. I was a hostage, for God's sake. Why would an abductor show compassion to a hostage? How could I be that naïve?

...

Or maybe... a tiny voice inside my head whispered, did he show a little compassion over there?

Mello hadn't rejected my request right away. He had said he would talk it over with Matt, so... there was still a room for me to hope for a positive outcome, right?

After all, from what I had seen, Matt never showed any intention of harming me. In fact, he had been acting more like a friend, guilt-driven or not. Matt had acted as a bridge between me and Mello earlier and I appreciated his help for that. If it wasn't for Matt, neither would Mello apologize nor agree to go to the hospital. I'd like to think how Matt treated me—as a person and not as a hostage—throughout this unfortunate situation as the only thing that kept me sane to this point. For now, I could only hope that Matt could talk Mello into allowing me to call my parents.

As the leather-clad blond handed over his prescriptions to the pharmacist, I stood just behind his back, observing in silence.

Just please, I pleaded silently, please show me just a little bit more of your human side.

Mello

Not so long after, we found ourselves in the hospital parking lot walking towards the bright red Camaro. Matt's head poked out of the driver window the second he noticed us.

"Oh, finally!" he exclaimed loudly, opened the door, and ran to approach us, "Any idea how torturing it is for me to wait for you guys and I can literally do nothing? Literally? Fucking dead game console and no smoking around the hospital—oh, wow. That is one hell of a boot," Matt's rant stopped as soon he cast a glance on my air cast. He glanced up at me, "You know Mels, actually I like this one on you more than your usual boots."

I rolled my eyes. "Save the mockery for later, Matt. We have a new situation: Rod's ambush is all over the news. World news."

"It's on the news already?" Matt's eyes narrowed behind the tinted goggles as he and Val helped me getting into the backseat, before both of them got into the car afterwards, "I overheard the talk among some visitors… but fuck, world news."

"Yeah," I hissed as I tried to find a comfortable position for my lower right leg in the narrow space, "Luckily there's no mention about any of us three so far, but we can't know for how long. Now I'll get to the point. She," I nodded at Valerie on the front seat, "wants to call her parents."

Valerie looked over at Matt, the hopeful expression was back.

"Well, I see no reason why she can't," Matt shrugged, "If the news reaches her family, they'd flip out."

"Matt," I stressed, "We both know we don't want any more trouble here."

He narrowed his eyes. "You mean, you suspect she'd tell them everything?" Matt muttered, casting a glance at the brunette.

"I won't, trust me," Valerie said, wearily, before I could open my mouth to tell Matt that it wasn't that I doubt her. But ultimately I decided to let her speak for herself, "I'm the same as you guys are; I don't want any more trouble. I only want to inform my parents that I'm alright, especially since they haven't heard anything from me the whole day. Matt, you know I left my medical bag at your flat and who knows if the police suspect something that might get all of us into trouble. And I really don't want that to happen."

"Oh, actually about that, you don't have to worry," Matt said light-heartedly, which made both me and Valerie looking at him in confusion, "Back at the apartment, I created a little diversion for Rod and his men while I took my time to hide your bag, along with my tools and what's left of my dearest laptops—" he made a face on the latter, "—in a safe place."

"Where?"

"Well, somewhere inside the apartment building for sure—I didn't have much time. But I bet it will be the last thing on the cops' mind to look at. Even if they search my flat, they'd find nothing that would lead to us," he grinned smugly, looking confident on what he had said.

Valerie sighed in relief. And to be honest, a part of me was relieved as well; that meant Matt had gotten rid of any evidence. But something still bugged me.

"How about fingerprints?" I pointed out, "And the Vicodin? And the heroin test?"

"Don't worry about the Vicodin and the heroin test; I managed to dispose them as well. But for the fingerprints…" Matt thought it for a moment. "Hmm. Well, at least you're safe man, since you never took your gloves off in my flat. Sometimes I do take my gloves off, so I'm sure my fingerprints will still be around… but hey, in case the cops paid a little visit to my flat, it would be more suspicious if they couldn't find any fingerprint, don'tcha think?"

"What about my fingerprints?" Valerie blanched.

"Ok, calm down, Val. You're my neighbor, and it's only normal if neighbors visit each other. At least, those cops couldn't have been dumb enough to suspect trivial things like that."

"But the landlord surely knows your place. They could've questioned him about your identity or search the papers or something," I said.

The striped-clothed redhead cocked an eyebrow. "Well, thanks to someone, who is constantly being paranoid about nothing, I learn not to sign anything under my real name or give it away easily to anyone. Happy now, teacher—OW!" his left hand flew to the back of his head in reflex, "Fuck, Mello, you should've injured your wrist instead of your ankle!"

"Pray that it wouldn't be your head next," I commented with a satisfied smirk, sneaking my gloved hand back into my folded arms in process, but inwardly feeling really grateful to my companion here. I knew I could count on Matt. Jeez, if only he could learn not to make fun of me at random times...

"Hold on, 'Matt' isn't your real name either?" Valerie asked.

Matt gave the girl an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Val. Mello said it's better for both us to hide our real nam—wait, you said either?" He then turned to me, sending a questioning look.

I rolled my eyes and snorted. "I never said anything."

"But I'm right, am I?" she pressed further, finally willing to look at me.

"Give it up, Sherlock," I drawled lazily.

She narrowed her eyes. "I know I'm right."

I did not respond to that.

"But Matt," I added afterwards, brows furrowed, "that means you're the least safe here."

Matt looked at me straight in the eye. "Listen, Mello," he began, "I know you're worried about me, and I appreciate that. From the beginning, you've countlessly reminded me about how dangerous and unsafe the whole thing is. I know the risk. And I said yes anyway. Why? Because 'danger' is my middle name."

I frowned at him. "You were being serious when you said you wanna play chase with the cops."

He grinned sheepishly, "Busted. But I only mean that if it doesn't involve anyone else. So, as long as we're on the same boat, I'll try to stay away from any trouble. You hear me, Mels?"

I sighed heavily. The last thing I ever wanted is that something happened to Matt. I wouldn't want anything to happen to Matt. I knew I couldn't change anything that had happened to this very second, but I knew I could change anything that had yet to happen; for his own safety and my own, "I hear you. Just… watch yourself, ok?"

"Roger that," he smiled, "Oh and by the way, speaking about names, I've been wondering: what did you say your name was at the hospital? They must have asked for a name, right? And if you ask me, 'Matt' is still a common one, but 'Mello'..."

"'Michael Keith'," Valerie spoke flatly before I could open my mouth. Matt sported a blank look momentarily.

And then he laughed. Out loud. Hysterically.

He ended up clutching the back of his head, again, now with swears directed to me under his breath.

"Jesus, Mello! And here I thought being injured would've made you a tad less brutal…"

I grinned triumphantly, ignoring Valerie's disapproving look, "So be a good kid then. Who knows, maybe Santa will be kind enough to grant your wish on Christmas."

He rolled his eyes. "Ok, let's get back to the topic. For me, I think there's no harm on letting Val call her parents."

"Do you really think so?"

"Did she tell either the doctor or hospital staff about our current situation?"

"... No."

"I couldn't help but telling the doctor about his dependence on painkillers, though..." Valerie admitted. "I'm sorry for that; the doctor's already suspected something, and you know I couldn't lie to a professional."

"What did you tell the doctor?" Matt asked her.

"I told her it's Vicodin, due to its similar early signs of use with heroin, but I swear, I said nothing of the heroin or illegal drugs."

"So, basically she kept her promise not to say anything," Matt said approvingly, "and letting her parents know about her condition wouldn't harm anybody. Just let the poor girl contact her family, Mello."

A/N: Dear readers, I have an announcement: Soon, a new character from the original Death Note series will make an appearance in this fic. I'll give you hints:

1. Mello talked to this person in the original series,

2. No, I regret to say that it's not the pajama-clad boy.

And I'd like to thank my reviewers so far: sallycoombs, Imaradishatheart, Chiruka, anon, kfranke, PxdxlF, Carley-Carley-Carley, LiLy Resh, AngelGefallen, HazakuKaira, TTY7, and Alkirian for their helpful and wonderful feedbacks! Thanks also to those who have added this fic to your favorites/story alerts!

So... what do you think is going to happen after this, hmm?

Coming up next…

Dear Lord, either at this very moment I'm in the company of two crazy freaks or two mad geniuses.