Jerrod sat on the bed in his room and stared at his hands.
His graying hair dangled in his face as he clenched his fists tightly.
"I'm such a horrible person." He muttered, fighting the urge to leave and go to the nearest bar.
An urge he had been fighting ever since he got out of jail.
The door to the room suddenly opened and light flooded in. Jerrod raised his head and looked towards the door, seeing the form of his daughter. She was holding something in each hand. Two bottles.
His eyes widened as she sat down next to him and handed him one.
"It's root beer. It's all I drink. It might help your urges for the alcohol. Then again, I don't really know. I've never touched the stuff." Sybil popped the lid off of her own bottle of root beer and took a long drink.
Jerrod followed suit, copying her.
"Thank you, Sybil." There was an awkward silence between the father and daughter before she finally spoke.
"I love you, you know. I'm afraid to, but I still do. Maybe not the same as I did when I was a little girl, but you still are my father. No amount of denying that will change it. We had a bond once and maybe, despite what happened to Mom and my unborn brother or sister fifteen years ago, we can rebuild it." The way she spoke to him, it was soothing to his fears.
"Sybi-"
"However, it still has been fifteen years. I'm not the little girl that I used to be. I gave up on being Sybi when I was seventeen. I gave up on being a child when I was eight. I grew up a long time ago, but I'm still the same. Do you know what you did to me when you ran away? You might as well just have shot me too." Jerrod lowered his gaze again.
Sybil continued.
"When you ran away, the father I had known ran away as well. I know that you were a drunk and that you abused Mom when so, but when you were sober-" A gentle smile reached her face.
"- when you were sober, you were my best friend. You were the one that would protect me from all of the people out there that wanted to use me for their own personal gain, just because I'm a-" She stopped and looked at the man, who was listening with his eyes closed.
Her eyes softened ever so much more.
"I don't like using the word hate and I don't like referring to myself as anything, but normal. Whatever that is. Jerrod, I don't like myself and haven't for fifteen years. I've thought numerous times about ending it all, just because of something that you did." The older man immediately opened his eyes, which were filled with guilt.
"Sybil, I was drunk. I'm sorry for hurting you the way I did. I'm sorry for everything. There hasn't been a day for fifteen years that I'm never sorry. There won't be a day for the rest of my life when I'm never sorry. I killed the woman I loved and my child, right in front of you." He began to quiver and Sybil's gentle hand touched his shoulder.
Everything was going to work out, it seemed. Much better than she had hoped.
She had wanted this confrontation for seven years now, just to pour out her life and soul, to let him understand her pain. All that time, he had caused her this pain. Now, she was letting it all out and feeling so much better about it. All she really needed, after all, was this one confrontation with her father. With Jerrod.
"I didn't understand at first why you told Troy to tell me your personal information. I really didn't, but now I do. You need help, don't you?"
"Hmm, in jail, did you hear of Kira?"
***
Jerrod sat beside his daughter and took a long drink of the carbonated liquid in his hand.
"So, you're working alongside L in the investigation to apprehend this serial killer, Kira? Kira's method of killing is heart attacks that he's caused with knowing the victims' names and faces, he's done some experiments, letting us know that he can control people before they die, and now you think that there's a second one that can kill with just someone's face? Sybil, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" She grinned and it faded soon after, allowing her to sigh and look down at her root beer bottle.
"A police officer was killed tonight by this second Kira and I was there with him. The second Kira seems bent on getting someone's attention. He or she killed several spokespeople for several different television channels. Ryuu and I are probably going to go take a closer look at the tapes that we brought in to see if it'll give us anything." Jerrod nodded, looking thoughtful.
"Ryuu?"
"Ryuuzaki. My partner, you could say."
"Oh. L. Wait, you've seen L face to face?" Again, a small grin made its way onto Sybil's face.
"You're face to face with Carlyle, am I all that special?"
"You're special to me, who the hell cares what everyone else thinks?"
"Ryuu is my friend. I think he thinks I'm special too. It's nice to know that people care. If only I could do the same without fearing it's going to come back and bite me in the ass." Jerrod gently grabbed her hand and Sybil tensed slightly before allowing him.
He smiled weakly.
"That'll soon change, just you wait and see."
"At the moment, I don't know if I can believe that. Seeing as it is advice coming from you." Jerrod released her hand and took another drink from his bottle pop.
"You probably should get some sleep. You look worn down."
"Hmm. Yeah. I am pretty tired. Probably won't be able to sleep though, but I might as well give it a shot. However, first I need to do something. Do you mind standing up?" Jerrod blinked, but followed his daughter's demands.
She finished off her bottle of root beer, dropped it to the floor, drew her arm back and let him have it.
Her fist collided with his jaw and Jerrod stumbled backwards, dropping his own half bottle of pop to the floor. It spilled all over the carpet and Sybil panted heavily as she rubbed her fist with her other hand.
"I've been waiting fifteen years to be strong enough to do that. I've spent hours working on my self-defense skills and learning how to throw a proper punch, just so that I could lay one punch on you. You better put some ice on that." Jerrod rubbed his aching jaw as his daughter left the room with an emotionless expression.
No wonder she was so calm. All she wanted was to talk and beat him senseless. Thank God that she only wanted to hit him once. Another punch like that and she surely would have broken his jaw.
The middle aged man let out a grunt as he continued to rub his jaw. Soon, he felt a trickle of blood run free from his mouth and he wiped it away.
Maybe he'd heed her advice and get some ice.
***
Sybil shook her rather red hand as she sat next to L in headquarters. The rest of the Task Force hadn't arrived yet, due to her habit of arriving hours before she was supposed to.
L glanced over to her just as she began to rub her hand with her other palm.
"Would you like some ice?"
"Huh? Oh, no thanks. The pain reminds me of the great feat that I have achieved."
"Punching your father in the face was an achievement?" Sybil smirked.
"Fifteen years of waiting. Next time I'll use my foot."
"You'll most likely end up breaking it." L replied as he stuck a forkful of strawberry cake into his mouth.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Hey, you plan on giving me back my hat anytime soon?"
"Frankly, I prefer you without it." A slight blush crept up into her cheeks and Sybil soon shook her head.
"Fine, be that way. So, what's going on with these tapes?"
"Just as we thought. The second Kira will do anything to get the attention of the first Kira. Light too has confirmed that there is a second Kira. The likelihood that he is Kira has dropped slightly." Sybil grunted in annoyance at that fact.
"I don't like the kid. He sends shivers down my spine in and not the romantic fashion. That might just be the fact that he hit on me talking or something, but I swear, if he comes too close to me, I'm going to break his jaw with the same hand that I used to break my father's." L inwardly smirked at her comment.
"Try not to hurt him too badly."
"Oh, so you don't like him either?" L looked at her with his wide onyx eyes before he brought more cake up to his mouth.
"I must admit, if Light was not a suspect, we may have been friends." Sybil didn't seem very happy with this knowledge, for her eyes narrowed and she stood up quickly.
"I've got to make a phone call to my brother. I've put it off long enough." She slipped out her cellphone.
"I'm going to be standing outside the building. I don't get good reception in here anyway."
"I highly doubt that it's a good idea for you to be outside."
"The second Kira never saw my face. I'll be fine. Just worry about the damn investigation." Then she was gone.
L sighed.
Sybil was always making that a habit. Disappearing before she could be stopped. He didn't enjoy it very much. It always left him with a knot in his stomach which wasn't caused by his extreme sugar intake or his seating position.
Why wouldn't she let anyone try and talk her out of walking away?
The dark haired detective brought another forkful of cake to his mouth before swallowing.
And why did she suddenly get so mad? He didn't say anything against her, to his knowledge anyway.
Well, whatever it was, it didn't matter. He would eventually get his answers from her.