Thank you again to all of those who are reading and not reviewing, and a special awesome wonderful thanks to the three that are!!

All characters except for my OC belong to those wonderful creators of Death Note and not me.

Chapter 15

She knew it would not be easy and she knew why. There weren't any images of L on purpose to protect him from being killed. She certainly did not want to jeopardize L's life, but she had decided she was going to build something for him to keep a private little collection of all the things L was. She didn't know when she got the idea to do this, probably while she was watching him play with the bubble machine and how sad it was she was the only one to get to enjoy it. It was also rare for L to completely relax and novel enough to want to make a keepsake of it. She believed that if she put something like that together to share with L, perhaps he would recognize the need to do it more. So she came upon the idea to make mementos of the things he did, there would be items of things he enjoyed, like perhaps a picture of the chess set, various things that he loved to eat, a big picture of Watari and maybe of the boys. All to be kept for L and L alone to look at in his leisure, to remind him that he did have a world beyond the death and destruction he wrapped himself in most of the time. The bitch of course would be getting a picture of HIM. She decided to give it to him either at his birthday or Christmas. His last birthday had been a relatively quiet affair celebrated with the trio, Watari and herself. This year she wanted it to be more. But she had plenty of time, it was still months away. And if he were away at his birthday, then she'd give it to him for Christmas. She was getting more and more excited about it the more she thought about it. Whatever she had to do, she was going to get a picture…maybe two!!

Her opportunity didn't come until a few months later, when both she and L had been summoned into Roger's office. She had gone to L with an idea that perhaps the trio, and Mello in particular, were acting out a lot simply because they were bored. More intelligent than the others in their classes, sometimes they were way ahead of the others and so they would do things other than work to get thru the class, which almost always led to mischief. They weren't being challenged at all and as they were his heirs she felt he should definitely have a say in what they were doing academically. He agreed and told her to come up with some ideas and submit them to Roger. She had done so and now they were both asked to see him. She knew L was not particularly fond of Roger, so she knew he wasn't looking forward to it and she was not surprised that when he came into the office he was totally in "L" mode. Hands in his pockets, stooped over, hair totally covering his eyes. She could feel unease coming off of him in waves. She also wasn't surprised to see Watari accompanying him. This orphanage was his creation after all; no one deserved to be in this meeting more than he. She had to resist the urge to reach over and hold L's hand to make him feel more comfortable. He hadn't even acknowledged her presence in the room so she really knew he wasn't happy being there.

Watari smiled at her as he sat next to her in one of the chairs provided in front of Roger's desk, L stood.

"Thank you for coming," Roger began, "And especially you L as I'm sure you have many more important issues facing you than this. However, as it concerns your heirs I thought you would want to know what was being done." L said nothing, he nodded slightly.

"After reading your report, Dr. Thompson, I do have to tell you that I have a couple of reservations. In changing the current curriculum for these three, it almost seems as if we are rewarding them for bad behavior…" Christine bristled at that.

"That's ridiculous Roger you have to know better than that. Most children behave outwardly when they are in need of attention and know that they will get it immediately that way. They just don't know what attention they really want."

"Perhaps I misworded it. I am concerned that the other students, who are already quite aware of their behavior, would misconstrue the changes in the trio's curriculum as being such, and suddenly I could find myself with an orphanage full of rambunctious children all vying for changes in THEIR school day. I am not sure it would be worth the cost, or the potential problems. I feel they are getting ample education as it is, and they don't really have that much longer here after all…" Watari cleared his throat.

"Roger, I really believe you are missing the boat here. One of, if not all three of these boys are slated to stand in L's shoes." Christine had to suppress a small giggle at the words "in L's shoes.."

"L himself seems to have done remarkably well with the education he received here, the same as they are receiving." Roger countered, but Watari continued.

"It is imperative that they receive the highest level they can possible attain. L did not have this problem as he was primarily tutored by myself in most cases, the rest he did either on his own, with the addition of some of the classes here. L is a totally different case, his abilities are far superior to anyone's here."

"And I am to rearrange classes, hire new teachers merely to placate these three then?"

"I hardly think the things I have outlined are placating. They are very structured, difficult classes. They will need to be very focused in these classes…"Christine began.

"I didn't realize your medical degree extended to educational planning." Roger stated. It then dawned on her that perhaps Roger was taking exception because it had been her idea, more than the idea itself. She stood to make her statement coming stronger, when out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. L's head which had been lowered during the discussion as if he were looking at the floor slowly raised. His eyes, which had been covered by the fringe of his hair, were suddenly cleared and he fixed Roger with a stare so fierce that Roger sat back from his desk against his chair.

"I will not dignify that last statement from you, Roger as it would be a complete waste of my time explaining how moronic it was." Christine was even taken aback listening to the force of his quiet monotone, it was almost brutal. She sat back down and allowed L the floor.

"What I will do is tell you what I expect from you. You will look at the suggestions Dr. Thompson has given you. You will then write a report of how you plan to implement the ones that you deem will do the most good for the boys and submit it to her. She will in turn discuss it with Watari and myself and Watari will let you know how and when to put them into practice. I look forward to seeing your report as soon as possible."

It was all said in one breath, his eyes never leaving Roger's. He gave a glance at Watari before turning and leaving the office. Watari stood and with a nod to Christine and Roger, he followed L out closing the door behind him.

Christine turned her attention back to Roger. He had stared after them for a few moments and then turned back to her. He cleared his throat and looked down at the papers in front of him.

"I'm sure I can have my recommendations ready for your perusal by this afternoon, Dr. Thompson." He said quietly. Christine flashed her loveliest smile.

"Thank you, Roger I look forward to working with you on this." She did stand up then, reached across the desk and shook his hand, and then she too took leave. She at least had the good grace to get back to her office before she started laughing. Roger had been left with absolutely nothing to say after that, L had disarmed him without even raising his voice. She reached into her drawer and pulled out her digital camera. Perhaps after being in such a good glow after his awesome victory she could talk him into a picture. She made sure she had her phone in case of any emergencies and made her way to L's apartment.

When she arrived and Watari let her in she found L sitting at his desk with what she thought was the world's largest dish of ice cream in front of him. He was clutching his spoon in his typical forefinger and thumb with a look of delight that could have lit up the room if it were dark.

"Is that part of a your victory over Roger celebration?" she asked walking over to him. He ignored her until he got the first spoonful into his mouth, his eyes closing in pure happiness.

"That was not difficult, just annoying. I believe Roger was feeling you were undermining him, hence why he tried to belittle your experience in education. I could not allow that. Watari will have a talk with him to placate his ego so he does not feel he has anything to fear from you. " He dug again in to the ice cream, savoring every bite. She decided that would make an awesome L not being L picture. She quickly raised her camera when a hand grasped hers. She looked up from the camera to see Watari was holding her hand, stopping her from taking the picture. How did he move so quickly??

"I'm surprised at you, Christine. I'm sure you must realize there can be no photos of L." L looked up from his ice cream in surprise and stared at her.

"You were trying to take a picture of me?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Only for myself, I know you can't have anything out there for someone to find. I understand the dangers of it, but I want one for myself, if you don't mind. I have a digital camera and it will print out on my own dock. It will never leave my apartment, which is always locked. No one else will see it…well maybe the trio if it comes out really cute…" she said grinning. Watari removed his hand and stepped back, deferring to L's decision. He stared at her for a moment and then turned back to his ice cream, taking another bite.

"Alright, but do not expect me to pose." He answered, the spoon once again dangling from his fingers.

"Well, alright then, thank you. Oh, and L?" she asked and she got the desired response. He turned to face her to hear her question, mouth full of ice cream, and she snapped the picture.

Time flew by for Christine. Between her incredibly busy schedule, and working on her book for L, it seemed the dates on the calendar kept skipping past her. She couldn't remember a time when she had been so happy with her life; she had everything she could possibly want. She was using her skills to the best of her ability, and constantly learning new things. She had friends among the staff, there were evenings when several of them would get together and go to a pub for few drinks and just to get away from the halls of Whammy's. She had a school full of kids she could call her own, and she had the best possible friendship she could with L, with marvelous benefits. So before she knew it, summer had arrived again and left, leaving them with a beautiful fall, in which she actually got L outside and into a pile of leaves. Which then became a free for all as the trio got involved consisting of flying boys and leaves sticking out of places no one would have imagined.

She had managed to secure several pictures of L not being L, and even got a good one of Watari and each of the boys. She interspersed the pictures with anecdotes of things that had happened, things he'd done with the boys, and most recently the party in the leaves that fall. As she looked it over she suddenly realized how dangerous what she held in her hands truly was. If anyone were to get their hands on it, L and the boys would be in immediate danger, not to mention the whole of Whammy's. Even though she was sure nothing like that would happen, no one ever got into Whammy's security that they didn't want, but she had to be sure. She made sure it was well hidden under lock and key in her room at all times when it wasn't in her hands. She was also sure that L would love it.

As she had been afraid of, L was not around when his birthday came around, so she planned giving it to him at Christmas. It was early December when she put a few extra things into the book and when the name "Kira" began to circulate around Whammy's and on television.