A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews! So, I thought about it and I think I'm going to update every few days maybe, depending on what's happening in the story. See, we've typed most of the story already. We have maybe like 4 more chapters to type. I'm working on chapter 29 today, that's why I update so frequently. Because we finished most of it. And let me just say, as a warning, that when we post the events that happen in episode 25 (you know what I'm talking about...) you will be very sad. We cried when we typed it. Yeah...

Ok, enough about that. Regarding Noah's daddy, he won't actually be in the story. I wanted him in there so L could kick his ass but the other half of this partnership was all like "No." So that's how that went down.

Anyway, ready to read about L's reaction? Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 10: Reassurance

L had been up all night, which wasn't unusual, thinking about Miya's kiss. He was fairly certain that she had assumed that he was no longer interested, and he was trying to figure out how to fix the situation. He honestly was interested, now that he had considered the possibility that had never occurred to him before. After all, it wasn't every day that a beautiful woman kissed him like that. But he wasn't sure what he had done to turn her away. Apparently he hadn't kissed her back, but what was she expecting? He had no experience in that department, and she had caught him completely off guard! Damn, and worst of all this was a complete distraction from the Kira investigation! That should be at the top of his priorities and now he found it was fighting for first place with thoughts of Miya.

"Watari…" he sighed into the microphone the minute the sun appeared over the buildings outside.

"Yes?" Watari said back. "No changes if that's what you're wondering."

"No," L said. "Actually this is a personal issue." He figured if anyone would have advice, it would be Watari.

"Involving Miss Yamagata," Watari assumed.

"What makes you conclude that?" L asked.

"Well, you see, you've attended a number of events with the girl. You're a young man, she's a young lady. You're the detective, put it together." The old man was sounding like he had known this was coming all along, and L sure wished he'd given him a little warning.

"But what should I do?" L wondered, placing his thumb to his lip. "It appears I accidentally rejected her…" L could hear Watari chuckling from across the microphone. "I do not see what's amusing."

"Just talk to her," Watari advised. "If you care for her then it won't be a problem. She's a nice girl Ryuzaki."

"Yes you mentioned that before," L mumbled, lost in thought. Talk to her…he could do that right?

"You off to work, honey?" Miya's mother asked as Miya headed for the door. Noah was following her, Panda in hand, though he wasn't off to day care. Miya's mother had the day off and had offered to watch him.

"Unfortunately yes," she sighed. Her mother narrowed her eyes curiously.

"Something the matter?" she asked. "You look a little upset."

"Mommy sad 'cause of Mr. Panda," Noah answered for his mother, who's eyes got very wide.

"Where did you hear that?" she asked quickly. Noah sighed.

"I heard you cwying last night," he replied sadly. "Mommy you shouldn't be sad. Mr. Panda likes you a lot! I can tell!"

"Sure he does," Miya nodded, kneeling down and holding her arms out to the boy. "I'll see you when I get home." Noah ran up and hugged her.

"Bye mommy," he said, squeezing her tight. He then proceeded to scamper off into the other room. Miya turned and opened the door.

"Miya?" her mother said as she headed out.

"Yes mom?"

"Sweetheart, it's just a stuffed animal," her mother shrugged. "There's really no reason to be upset." Miya wasn't sure if her mom was joking or if she really thought they were talking about the bear, but either way she decided to stick with the joking.

"That thing's always staring at me," Miya laughed on the way out. "He will get the cold shoulder and like it!" Though as she left, that sentence actually made some sense.

"Oh, hey Miya!" Matsuda said with a friendly wave when she stepped into the hotel room.

"Hi Matsuda," she said in a friendly voice. "Hey Aizawa."

"Hey," he replied. L had been sitting in his chair secretly pumping himself up for her arrival, but now that she was here he couldn't bring himself to look over.

"Anything new?" Miya asked without looking his direction. Finally L had worked up some courage, and he turned around to look at her.

"Good morning Miya," he said simply. She ignored him and continued to look at Aizawa and Matsuda expectantly.

"Uh, no everything's the same," Matsuda answered quickly, exchanging glances with Aizawa. They had no idea what was going on, but it seemed messy so they both backed off and pretended to be extremely interested in their research.

"Um…good morning…" L said again. Miya pointedly ignored him as she headed toward the TV. He scooted to the side slightly in the hopes that she'd sit on the arm of his chair, but she passed it by without a second look and sat on the couch, fixing her gaze on the TV. L brought his thumb to his lip in thought.

"Miya…" he mumbled finally, just fishing for a response.

"Let's not make this awkward, okay?" Miya said flatly without looking at him.

"What do you think's going on over there?" Matsuda whispered to Aizawa, who shrugged.

"I don't know but I feel like we shouldn't be listening…"

"Yeah probably not," Matsuda agreed. They exchanged glances before dropping their papers and leaning in closer to better hear. Ryuzaki was still staring at her, so finally Miya gave in and turned to look at him.

"Yes?" she asked, crossing her arms. Ignoring people had never been her strong suit.

"Um…I wanted to talk to you about…well you know."

"About what?" Miya asked blankly. L turned to see Aizawa and Matsuda quickly get back to work, and decided this could wait until there was no audience.

"Later then," he decided. "I need to talk to you." Miya rolled her eyes and sighed, looking back to the screen. She really didn't want to have the awkward 'I like you but I don't like you' conversation, but for some reason L seemed heart set on it. What a fun day.

"Bye," Matsuda and Aizawa said in an almost unison as they headed out of the door at a decent time later that day. Miya was right behind them, until something pulled her back into the room by the hand.

"Miya, I thought we agreed to talk," L said, releasing her hand and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Actually, you decided for us that we were going to talk, but I really don't want to so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Miya, I really don't understand," L said, obviously confused. "I thought your kiss last night was an indication that you had feelings for me."

"Yeah, you know, it was," Miya shrugged. "But I mean, you didn't kiss me back and it's okay, I understand. I can deal with that but this talking, trying to apologize thing you're doing is really starting to get to me so just drop it, okay?"

"I wasn't trying to…"

"It's okay," Miya said instantly, cutting him off. "A lot of guys would be turned off by the fact that I have a kid. It's no big deal. I just wasn't expecting that from you, but it's fine." She made for the door, but L threw his arm out in front of her, closing it.

"I never said any of that," he pointed out. "That was your own assumption."

"I assume correctly, remember?" she said smartly, staring at his arm as if it would vanish and let her out if she glared at it long enough.

"Not this time," L said in a low voice. "I've grown to like Noah quite a lot and the fact that you have a child means nothing."

"Oh great, so it's just me then," Miya said. "Glad we could have this talk."

"Miya, will you please just listen for a second?" L sounded on the verge of begging, so Miya sighed and looked up at him.

"What?" she asked.

"I did not reject you," he explained. "You simply caught me off guard there. Did you forget that I have no experience in this area at all?"

"Wait, was that your first kiss?" Miya asked quickly. L ignored her and kept talking.

"So, needless to say this is difficult for me. You're just going to have to bear with me here. I'm not exactly sure how to act around you…"

"Act around me?" Miya said blankly. "Just be L."

"Yes, well it appears that is difficult with you around so we're just going to have to take it slow. I mean if you want to. If you were planning on taking it anywhere I mean…" L trailed off, releasing his hand from the door so he could rub the back of his neck. Miya narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you saying you like me?" she asked slowly. L turned his head to the side and shifted his gaze to the floor.

"I'd say there's a ninety-seven percent chance I could fall for you…" he mumbled almost incomprehensibly.

"Facts and figures never sounded so good," Miya laughed. Now that they'd had this conversation, she was pretty annoyed with herself for leaving so quickly the previous night.

"Does…this mean that you do in fact have feelings for me?" L asked uncertainly, meeting her gaze again. Miya tilted her head at him.

"I'd say I've given you enough clues, Mr. Detective."

"And are you upset with me?" L asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "About yesterday?"

"No, I shouldn't have rushed off," Miya said. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry I overreacted. I do this thing where I automatically jump to the worst possible conclusion. I'm working on it."

"Well just so you know," L continued. "I'm willing to give the kiss thing a try again." Miya raised an eyebrow at him as he stared at her expectantly.

"Whenever you're ready," he added. Miya laughed and turned toward the door.

"Goodnight Ryuzaki." L looked confused.

"You're going to surprise me with it again, aren't you?" he asked.

"We'll see. You're assuming that I'm going to kiss you again," Miya smiled, "And we just saw a second ago that assumptions are bad." L lifted his hand and scratched his head in confusion as Miya waved.

"Bye!" she said cheerfully before closing the door.

"Goodbye…" L mumbled before turning back toward his chair. She certainly was a mystery.

Miya arrived the next day at headquarters in a surprisingly cheerful mood. Surprising at least to the detectives who had witnessed her attitude yesterday. Matsuda and Aizawa sat around scratching their heads as she skipped over to the arm of L's chair as if nothing had happened.

"Um…I guess she's not mad at him anymore?" Matsuda wondered aloud. "But when did that happen? She followed us out last night right?"

"I thought she did," Aizawa shrugged.

"Well they must have talked sometime," Matsuda concluded.

"We are supposed to be working on the biggest criminal investigation of our time and all we can do is sit around and gossip about Ryuzaki and Miya?" Aizawa pointed out.

"Hey, we have to entertain ourselves somehow," Matsuda shrugged before sighing and getting back to work. L was looking at the familiar and unchanging images of the prisoners on the screen, but he looked up when Miya sat down.

"Any changes?" she asked, tilting her head to look at him.

"No," L replied, "But I feel like things will change soon. This has gone on too long." Miya nodded in agreement and sighed.

"So another long day?" she wondered.

"I'm afraid so," L nodded. Miya placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a slight smile as the complicated task of staring at television screens and going over old information began.

"I need to go home," Miya said once the other detectives had gone. "I really do need to get back to Noah." It had just gotten dark outside, though it wasn't horribly late yet. She and L had just been sitting around, talking about the case mostly, and though Miya didn't really want to go, she knew she had to.

"Well I'll walk you again," L offered, standing up. "It seems appropriate now more than ever, correct?" Miya laughed.

"You really don't have to rack your brains trying to figure this thing out," she said, motioning back and forth between herself and L. "Nothing's changed. We're just a little more…aware of feelings, I guess." She patted his chest as she passed him and grabbed her jacket at the door.

"I'm going to walk you home," L confirmed, heading over to where she stood. "Because I want to." Miya was extremely pleased by this comment, but she wasn't going to admit it. She still wanted to make L pay for making her think she was rejected, even if it wasn't his fault.

"Okay, if you insist!" Miya said sliding her jacket over her shoulders as L opened the door. She eyed L curiously. "Um, don't you want a jacket? It's kind of cold."

"No," L replied. Miya blinked in confusion.

"…okay then," she said, stepping out the door. "But if you get cold don't expect me to warm you up."

"Huh?" L said, following her and closing the door. Miya chuckled slightly and turned to face him, waiting until he was by her side. They reached the street on the outside when L cursed.

"Damn!" he half yelled. "I forgot to tell Watari I was stepping out." He made to turn around, but Miya grabbed his wrist.

"L, please you'll be back faster than the time it would take you to go in there and talk to Watari."

"I think you're wrong about that," L sighed. He looked back to the front of the hotel for another moment more, but finally turned away from it.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Miya said. Her hand was still around his wrist, and she was about to let him go when another idea came to mind. Instead, she let her hand slide down to his. L glanced down as her fingers slowly laced with his. "This okay?" Miya asked uncertainly.

"I suppose," L said, stuffing his free hand into his pocket. Miya furrowed her eyebrows and loosened her grip.

"Well, we don't have to," she said, pulling her hand free. L reached for it and slid his fingers back into hers.

"'I suppose' meant yes, it's okay," L explained. Miya blushed slightly and began walking, L right beside her. She had to admit the feel of his hand in hers was nice. It had been a long time since she'd held a man's hand, let alone a man she thought cared about her. And even though she and L weren't anything official just yet, she really did feel like he cared about her, and she knew that for some odd reason she cared about him.

"What are you thinking about?" L asked curiously when they were about halfway to her house. Miya had been pretty quiet, all caught up in her relationship thoughts, and so conversation hadn't really been going on. But as he spoke Miya turned to look at him with narrowed eyes.

"Well, what are you thinking about?"

"I asked you first," L argued, catching on to the fact that she didn't want to tell him. "So you tell me and then I'll tell you what I was thinking about." Miya sighed. She really didn't want to share her embarrassing and mushy thoughts, but knowing what L was thinking about was something she couldn't deny.

"Fine, I was thinking that I like holding your hand, okay?" Miya admitted reluctantly. "Now what are you thinking about?" L looked satisfied with her answer and so proceeded to tell her.

"Kira," he said simply.

"Well damn I could have guessed that!" Miya said, frustrated that she'd shared her hand holding secrets for no reason. She was also slightly disappointed that he wasn't thinking about her as well, but this was L after all. "Well, what about Kira?"

"I'm just growing frustrated I suppose," L admitted. "This confinement appears to be going nowhere and I find that I'm searching for the evidence to put Light away."

"You really do think he's Kira don't you?" Miya wondered.

"I'm certain," L said. "I just know. He's got to be."

"Well I think he's suspicious, that's for sure," Miya agreed with a nod. "The evidence points the other way now that the killings are going on again, that's the thing. It's confusing."

"I'm thinking it through," L continued. "I'm not able to rule out Light as a suspect."

"Well if you think he's Kira, then he's got to at least have something to do with it," Miya reasoned. "You're never wrong, and I doubt you are now."

"Thanks," L said. "I kind of need that now that people are starting to doubt my theory." Miya squeezed his hand as they stopped in her driveway.

"We're here," she stated obviously. L looked up and nodded.

"It appears we are." He stood there looking down at Miya, and she could see it in his eyes; he was preparing himself for a kiss. He just thought it was coming, and to be honest Miya had been planning on it. But now that she figured he was expecting it, she changed her mind.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," she said, turning to face him. She let her hand slid out of his and up his arm. He leaned back slightly as she leaned toward him and brought her other hand up to the side of his face.

"L," she whispered just an inch away from his lips. He just knew the kiss was coming. She was so close he could feel her breath on his lips.

"Yes…?" L said weakly, clearing his throat some as he spoke.

"Goodnight!" Miya giggled, turning her face to the side and pecking him on the cheek. She then released him from her grasp and skipped to the door. L raised his hand to touch his cheek and shook his head. He was certain that the kiss had been coming. But with Miya, he was beginning to think that he was completely clueless.