Chapter 2 has arrived!! Hope you enjoy!!

Once again, only one of these characters belongs to me, the rest are being borrowed!!

Chapter 2

Dr. Christine Thompson climbed out of the car and took a slow look around. Watari had given her a more detailed history of the orphanage during the drive over, but she was still not prepared for the size of the property. It looked more like a mansion; the grounds were impeccably kept and seemed to go on for acres. She saw no children, but since it was early in the day she assumed they were in classes at this time. She knew when she applied that this was not an ordinary orphanage that the children were unusually gifted, and that had intrigued her immediately.

She had tried looking up further information on Whammy's on line and was surprised by just how little information there truly was to be found. She shrugged it off to the idea of keeping nosy ones away to pry at such special children and thought nothing more of it. But now as she gazed at the property she wondered if there was more here than she had thought. She blinked as Watari appeared in her vision.

"If you would like to follow me, Dr. Thompson, the administrator is waiting to meet with you and to show you around and to your rooms and offices".

"Of course, thank you. The administrator, was he the one who interrogated me during the interview?" she asked smiling as she followed Watari to the door.

"No, that was not Roger." He answered, and offered nothing further. It was obvious nothing more was coming so she let it go. She was sure she'd learn the identity of the "interrogator" at a later date.

It was nearly three hours later when she was finally alone and was able to kick her shoes off and relax. Her head was practically ringing with all the information that had been given her and her feet were exhausted from all the walking. The place was huge, with living quarters and classrooms for what seemed to be a huge amount of children of varying ages. It was everything she had hoped it would be. And most importantly, far away from everyone and everything she had left behind. She sat up and removed her suit jacket and was surprised to find her luggage had been brought in and set up in the bedroom area of her rooms. They were very nice rooms, small enough to be intimate, large enough so she wasn't claustrophobic. There was a living room, furnished handsomely, a kitchenette, dinette bedroom and bathroom. She could see how she could decorate it to suit her, it held such promise.

But the best part for her was the medical area. Roger explained that while there had always been an infirmary, they had to create an actual office for her in order to see the patients individually. It had all the modern equipment a doctor could possibly want and she was told if there was anything she felt it was lacking, simply to let him know. Having had to practically beg for equipment at the last hospital she was at, she was almost giddy at the idea of having everything she needed to insure her patient's health and well being. Yes this had been the best decision she could have made.

There was a knock at her door and she was quite surprised to find Watari pushing a cart into her room when she opened it.

"Since you have not had a chance to acquaint yourself with the main kitchen I thought perhaps you wouldn't mind if I brought you something for dinner" he said as he brought the cart to a stop.

"Oh, no Mr. Watari I don't mind at all. It was very thoughtful of you since I haven't eaten in what seems like days." He gestured to the table and she sat as he placed several items on the table.

"Please enjoy, and Watari is fine, no "Mr." is necessary. Let me know if there is anything else I can get for you."

"Please, I don't think you could do anything else for me. You'll spoil me." She laughed.

"Welcome to Whammy's Dr. Thompson, and good evening." With that Whammy took the cart and left her to her dinner. Christine sighed happily and began to eat.

L watched her eat for a few moments before turning away from the feed. He brought his thumb to his lips and sighed. Everything seemed normal so far, but time would tell.

The next morning found Christine up early and in her new office. Happily finding a coffee pot and small fridge she had made coffee and was now going through the filing cabinet. It appeared that each child had a file with a short history, along with any medical information. She decided the first thing that would probably have to be done would be a routine examination of each child, checking for missing inoculations, growth history and a little talk to get a small psychological profile. That task alone was going to keep her busy for quite a while, not to mention any illness that may come up. Roger had mentioned there would be a small assembly after lunch to introduce her to the students and she was looking forward to that.

L made his way through the halls to the auditorium, in the middle of the tide of excited children. He smiled as walked with them; he considered these children his family and enjoyed the times he was among them. Three of them in particular noticed him and ran to him, surrounding him as they did.

"Wow, this must be an important meeting if you're going" the tallest of the three said, biting into a large chocolate bar.

"Indeed it is, Mello," L answered the blonde boy, "It's not every day we get someone new here".

"Aw is that all it is?" whined the next tallest, a redhead with goggles perched on his head, an electronic game in hand, "We thought something exciting was happening, L."

'Well it is exciting, I think. Its not another student, Matt, it's someone a bit more special than that." He looked down at the third boy, who was smaller than the other two. He clutched a robot in one hand while the other toyed with a strand of his white hair.

"Nothing to say about it?" he asked him. The boy shook his head.

"I shall wait and see what it is all about before saying anything. It's useless to speculate without any information." L smiled at him and nodded.

"Very good, Near. That's exactly the way I would have looked at it. Come on, we'll be late." He said and began to walk away.

Near turned to smirk at Mello who immediately smacked him in the back of the head, while Matt laughed at both of them.

Christine watched from the stage as all the children filed in, noisy but orderly. Once they had all sat down, Roger moved to the front of the stage and began to address them, telling them who she was and what she would be doing. Then she was introduced and she stood and walked to the front of the stage.

As she talked she looked out across the audience, taking in all the young faces, the teachers and then one nearly stopped her train of thought. At the back of the room stood someone she assumed was a teacher as he was obviously an adult, but there was something definitely different about him. The way he stood was one, stooped with his hands in his pockets. But what got her attention were the mass of unruly black hair sticking in all kinds of directions, and his eyes. From all the way from across the room she could feel them boring into her. She could almost feel them peeling away layers and looking deeply into her being. She forced her self to look away as she could feel a blush starting from the intense scrutiny and she was losing what she was saying.

When she had finished and acknowledged the applause she received from the children and teachers, she dared to look back in his direction, but he was gone. She looked to Roger and walked over to him.

"Roger, I saw a young man at the back of the auditorium as I was speaking. He had dark hair a bit on the unruly side, seemed to be wearing a white shirt and jeans. Who was he?"

"Ah yes. Well, I think I'll wait and let him introduce himself to you when he's ready." He said smiling and walked away.

Christine stared after him for a moment, then sighed and headed back to her office.