~Matt: Her Final Chapter

After Mello came to get me we went back to the apartment. Aiko greeted us at the door. She had been waiting for us so that we could eat. Although it was more like lunch now… Maybe brunch? Aiko pulled my hand to her and she looked for something. She probably wants to see the burn but she was looking on the wrong hand.

"Here." I offered her my left hand and she took it slowly, she stared at the burn.

"Should we take you to the hospital?" Mello offered. He always was the type to be caring after he did something that he felt bad for. I shook my head, "Lets just eat. I'm starving."

Mello sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Sorry babe. The foods cold."

I turned to Aiko, she still hand my hand in hers, and smiled. She smiled back at me and let go of my hand. I kneeled in front of her wheelchair, "You want to go out to eat?"

We ended up going to the restaurant down the street. Aiko loved eating there when she was little because the waitress that works there gave her free fruit bowls. Old hag still works there. You'd think that after at least ten years there she would think to move on in life. Then again everyone had a hard time moving on. I know I will when Aiko leaves.

"Earth to Matt!" Mello pinched my shoulder.

"Ow! What?" I rubbed the abused skin through my shirt.

"What do you want?"

I found that the waitress had already taken everyone's order except mine. Damn, I don't what to get… "Just hash brown with two eggs please, scrambled."

The lady nodded and walked away writing down the last of my order. I took a sip from a glass of water that sat in front of me on the table. Mello was on his phone yelling at one of those mafia guys that followed him. I turned to Aiko whom had the bendy straw in her mouth but wasn't actually drinking the milk in her glass. I nodded to Mello and twirled my finger around on the side of my head. Aiko laughed.

"Matt shut the fuck up I saw that!" Mello roared and continued yelling into the phone.

I turned back to Aiko and she was still smiling. The food arrived and Mello hung up the phone. I help Aiko eat her food but as always she wanted to do it herself. The doctor said that was good and we should encourage her but it get nervous sometimes when the spoon slowly goes towards her chin and not her mouth.

We finished our food and paid the tab. I took the wheelchair from Mello's grip and pushed Aiko outside the restaurant. The sun was high overhead and bright and lots of clouds. Perfect weather. I looked to my right and saw our apartment building. I looked to my left and saw everything else. Mello came out from the building finally and sighed, "Lets go home."

"Mello."

The blond turned around, "What?"

"Mell lets go this way." I nudged to the left.

"Come on Matt I got to work. Stupid people need guidance on the simplest things."

"Then you go to work and I'll go this way with Aiko." I turned Aiko's wheelchair to the left and began to walk.

"Hey, wait! So you get to hang out with Aiko all day while I go to work?" Mello yelled at us from the corner.

"Just ditch work. You can go later or tomorrow." I yelled back at him, not stopping. Honestly I did want him to come but nothing will come between that boy and his work. I shrugged it off and decided to not let it bother me. Then my skinny lover ran up next to me and started walking with us. I smiled to my self.

We spent the day walking up and down the streets and even had lunch in the park. We ran into some old friends of Aiko's from her school. Mello and I decided that we should head home before it got to dark. Mello made us all dinner and we put Aiko to bed. Mello and I watched the news before heading to bed ourselves.

"Today was fun." Mello admitted as he took off his shoes, sitting on the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, Aiko seemed happy to be out. We've kept her inside for so long." I said as I took off my shirt and jeans.

The two of us finished changing and got into bed. I leaned my head on Mello's shoulder as I began to fall asleep.

I sighed as I pushed the liquor store door open. I walked down the candy isle with my hands comfortably in my pockets. I cleaned out the small box of the blonds' favorite type of chocolate then walked over to the cashier.

"Will this be all?" The cashier asked already ringing the chocolate up.

"A pack of cigarettes too." I mumbled pulling out my wallet.

"Which kind?" The man turned to the case with different types of the cancer stick.

"Surprise me."

"Okay that will be twenty-seven dollars sir." The man put the chocolate and cigarettes into a bag as I handed him the money.

"Thank you, come again."

I grabbed the bag and left the store. I was walking down the busy street towards our apartment when a woman caught my eye. She was covered from head to toe in black and wore black sunglasses. She was carrying a baby wrapped in a red blanket. She turned into the ally way and disappeared from my sight. Curiosity got the better of me. I leaned back against the street lamp and light a cig from my new pack and waited.

A good five to six minutes later the woman walks out of the ally way with her hands in her pockets. I followed her with my eyes until she disappears from my sigh once again. Pushing myself off of the lamppost I drop the cigarette to the floor and smother it with my boot. I casually walk across the sidewalk and into the alley. What I heard next caught my full attention.

"Whaaaaa!" A small voice cried from the dumpster.

I slowly walked over to the trash bin and peeked inside. A small baby lay wrapped in the same red blanket I saw before. I stood in front of the dumpster staring at the baby as it cried and cried. Soon the baby stopped crying and looked at me. The second those baby blue eyes met with mine, I was sucked in.

/…[*]…\

"Matt. I sent you out for chocolate."

"Yeah, I got your chocolate."

"I know smart ass but usually when you go buy chocolate your not suppose to come home with a fucking baby!" Mello yelled, letting his hands curl into fist.

I had the baby on the living room couch as I let it play with my fingers.

"I wasn't going to just leave her there Mello. We're not all heartless like you." I kept his eyes on my guest.

"Her? So it's a girl? That's just great. Do you have a name for it too?" Mello snatched up a chocolate bar from the plastic bag, ripping it open.

I looked at the baby girl and thought for a moment, "…Aiko."

"What?" Mello asked with a mouth full of chocolate.

"That's her name; Aiko." I smiled to myself as the girl laughed at the sound of the name.

Mello stomped over to the couch the baby and I occupied, "Aiko?! Are you fucking kidding me?! You're not supposed to name it! When you start naming shit you get attached!"

I looked up at Mello for the first time since I came home with the baby, "Mello, lets keep her."

Mello stared at me expressionless, "Keep—You want to keep it? This isn't a fucking puppy you find on the street Matt!"

"I know, it's a little girl that's mother left her to rot in a trashcan. Aiko is a human being and I am not going to ignore this and put her back in that dumpster, Mello." I was not playing around.

The baby cooed as she slammed her hands down on mine playfully, enjoying the new sound.

Mello stared at me, glaring, trying to find something to say to make me give up and take her back. Nothing came to mind. "It stays for one night. After that you take it to hospital and let them worry about it."

I cracked a smile and stood up, grabbing my keys off the table and walking to the door. Mello bit into the chocolate, "Where are you going?"

I turned around with a big smile, "Aiko needs food." With that I walked out of the apartment.

"Tch." Mello stared at then door then his eyes fell onto baby Aiko sitting on the couch staring up at him. "Try anything and you get a bullet through your head. Got it?"

Aiko laughed then fell back onto her back, rolling around on the dirty couch.

/…[*]…\

I walked down the hall with a bag full of baby food and dippers in one hand and my keys in the other. Sorting out the right key for the apartment door I heard shouting and crying from inside the room. Worried I shoved the key into the doorknob and turned it.

Mello held a gun to the baby's head as she cried loudly. Mello shouted threats to try and make her quiet down but none of them were working. Mello noticed me then aimed the gun at me, "Make her shut up! She's been crying for hours! Where the fuck have you been?!"

I quickly closed the door and put the bag down next the couch as I picked Aiko up, "What did you do her?!"

Mello lowered the gun, offended by the question, "I didn't do shit! One minute she's laughing and rolling around then she starts crying like she going to fucking die!"

I let Aiko rest her head on my shoulder as I rubbed her back lightly, "Shh. What did that mean Mello do to you?"

Mello glared at me then put his gun away. He watched me as I bounce slightly up and down as the baby quieted down. I continued to talk to her soothingly until Aiko stopped crying altogether.

"How'd you know what to do?" Mello asked a little shocked.

I turned around to face the blond, "Its something my mom use to do to me…" I placed Aiko down onto the couch as carefully as I could so I wouldn't wake her.

"Don't make me take her to the hospital Mello." I asked softly as I kneeled next to the couch, watching Aiko sleep.

Mello sighed, "Matt… We can't take care of her. You can't take care of her. It's too much work. They'll take good care of her at the hospital. —"

"No they wont. They'll just send her to an orphanage." I growled, remembering the horrible memories I had of orphanages I was sent to before Wammy's.

"Tch. She'll be better off there. At least she'll be able to be adopted and raised normally. Do you really want her to be raised by a badass mob boss and a hacker?" Mello rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Besides it cost a lot of money to raise a kid—"

"I can take it out of my game money. I'll buy everything for her so you don't have to worry. I'll take care of her Mello, I promise." I pleaded, looking up at Mello sadly.

Mello sighed and bit off a piece of his chocolate bar, "What happen to the days when I was enough? Fine. I'll give her a week trial! If anything goes wrong she's out the door."

I jumped up and hugged Mello happily, "Thank you Mello! You wont regret this, I promise!"

Mello groaned, kissed me lightly on my lips then pushed me away, "I'm going to bed."

I smiled as I watched Mello walk into our bedroom. I turned back to Aiko just as she opened her eyes and began to cry again. A gunshot fired thought the bedroom door.

I laughed, "This is going to be a long week."

"Matt! MATT!!"

I jumped up and looked around the dark room.

"MATT! Get Up Matt!!"

Mello was screaming from Aiko's room. Shit. I jumped off the bed and ran to the room. Mello held Aiko in his arms. Aiko.

"Matt, she's not breathing. Call the ambulance!" Mello yelled.

I ran to our room and searched for my jeans. Fuck! I found them on the floor in the closet and pulled out my phone. 9-1-1.

"Hello, please state your emergency."

"My daughter isn't breathing! She has spinocerebellar ataxia. Please, we need am ambulance now!"

"Okay sir, please calm down. What is your address?"

"Just trace the fucking call!" I yelled into the phone before tossing the phone onto the bed without hanging up. I ran back to Mello who now had Aiko in the living room.

"What did they say?" Mello asked worried.

"Fuck it we're taking her!" I grabbed my keys and we rushed to my car without closing the door behind us.

Just before we got to the car the ambulance pulled up in front of the apartment building. They took Aiko and placed her on a bed. They pushed Mello and I away so that we wouldn't get in the way. They ripped her shirt open and tried shocking her heart.

"3, 2, 1, clear."

Zzzzzzt

"Nothing. Again! 3, 2, 1, clear!"

Zzzzzzt

Aiko died around 2:35am on September 5th 2009. Aiko's death was caused by choking on her own saliva. Mello and I will start funeral arrangements in a week.

Well thats it! The end. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for sticking with me though it all even though I'm bad at spelling :) Might be a "Funeral" chapter later on, who knows?