AN: Well.

Some of you will love what happens in this chapter. Some of you will be indifferent. And at least one of you is going to be pissed off that I had to resort to doing this to move the plot forward. But hey, after the last chapter... he kinda has to come back in somewhere now, doesn't he?

I hate to admit it, but if any chapter in this story is going to be boring/cliche/stupid, it'll probably be this one. Sorry.

But hey, I couldn't resist, because it's Halloween. And most of you know what that means... HAPPY BIRTHDAY L!!! WHOOOO Nikki and I are gonna have a party for him!!! YEAYA!!!! And I'm gonna be cosplaying for the first time tonight!! O.O Ha ha, not as L though. I have my doubts I could pull off L.

Anyway. Now that that's outta my system...

February 28, 2011
4:18 PM

Cake.
Lots and lots of cake.
And chocolate.
Somehow the world is nearly perfect, and this nearly-perfect world is amazing.
Now if only that obnoxious knocking noise would stop: then the world would be truely perfect and I can go and eat in peace--

Wait a minute.

L's eyes snapped open as he realized that he had dozed off in front of his computer. It almost never happened, but when it did he always slept for a ridiculous amount of time. He glanced at the computer clock and the date. He did the math in a hundredth of a second.

Four and a half hours.

...Actually, that wasn't too long for him. Usually he crashed for about six hours once or maybe twice a week.

But something had woken him up...

It was then that he realized someone was pounding on his door. Grumbling and not in the best mood to deal with anyone, he stood up to go see who his guest was.

There's a 90% chance it's someone living in this building... a 4.5% chance it's a wrong address... a 2.3% chance it's a delivery of some kind... and a 1.6% chance that I finally have a response from that package I sent to Matsuda.

In which case, it's about time! A week to respond is a bit much...

L had sent it in with absolutely no idea if a reply would come. It would, again, depend on whether Light was still alive or not. If that much was true, and Light was alive, then there was a 99.9% chance that he had recognized it as a challenge. Knowing that, he almost certainly wouldn't hesitate to send L some kind of challenge back.

It was actually a relief that nothing had happened.

But the more L thought about it, the more he realized that anyone from Wammy's would have sent a reply as well. Of course, Light's reply was bound to be totally different than any from Wammy's House. But that nothing had happened at all was almost... disturbing.

So should this be a reply, that would most definetly be a good thing. L opened the door, fully prepared for almost any kind of person there. A neighbor, a wrong address, a delivery, or a reply... one of the four. Those were the only logical options.

Well, he got a good look at his visitor and realized that, for once, he was completely wrong.

It wasn't a neighbor, that was for sure.

The last time L had checked this man was not a mail carrier.

A reply from the police station? That theory went down the drain in less than 0.08 of a second.

And if this was the wrong address...

The doctor rolled his eyes as L stared at him. "Oh for God's sake, don't invite me in or anything..."

For once, L was almost speechless. "Mido-san??"

"Well, who'd you think it was? The police?"

L fought back the urge to point out that the police showing up on his doorstep would have made at least a little more sense.

Mido invited himself in and made a face as he observed all the candy wrappers in the trash can. "You certainly didn't listen to any of my lectures on eating a balanced diet, did you?"

L didn't stop staring as he closed the door. "How did you find me here?"

"Huh? Oh for God's sake Ryuzaki, they displayed a sketch of you on television!! And then when you didn't come back in a week like you'd promised you would, I got worried, so--"

"Mido-san!!" L cut him off. "I didn't ask why you found me. I asked HOW." He paused. "And I thought there weren't any electronics in your building."

The doctor frowned and sat down on the couch. "I found a television upstairs. I figured it was alright to watch the news once in a while, and then lo and behold!! You're wanted by the NPA. I should warn you: I am going to be seriously pissed off if you have to spend the rest of your life in prison."

L didn't even crack a smile. "Mido-san, you didn't answer the original question. How did you track me down??"

Mido winced at the tone. "You didn't think I'd let you go without knowing exactly where you were headed, did you?"

"I don't think it is very polite to spy on someone, Mido-san." L had spied on others many times before--handcuffs, anyone?--but he didn't exactly feel the need to point that out.

Mido considered that. "True... Alright, I'll tell you. I stuck a tracking dot on you."

He did-- "What??"

Mido smiled sheepishly. "It's true. I'm a little bit... paranoid about my patients' well being... So I put a tracking dot in your shoe in case I needed to find you." His smile turned into a grimace as he spoke.

L dashed across the room and picked up the shoes that he had taken and kept from Mido against his instinct to dump them in a trashcan. He felt along the inside and, sure enough, there was an awkward metal semicircle in the very toe of the right shoe. Any normal person would have noticed that there had been an odd bump in their sneaker, but L...

For once it had been against his luck that he hated wearing shoes.

"Alright, I suppose you got me there," L grudgingly admitted. Well, Mido had been paranoid enough to put security cameras in L's room: all things considered, this wasn't much of a step up.

Mido glanced around the apartment. "So this is where you live now..."

"For the time being." L shrugged. He wasn't quite sure what to do about the situation, so he asked, "How long are you staying?"

"Not too long. I have to get back to work soon." Mido turned and looked directly at him. "May I ask a straightforward question?"

"..." L stared back. "Why not?"

"What is it that the police want you for?"

L realized he hadn't thought of a good excuse to tell anyone that might ask him why he was wanted. He instantaniously came up with a story that he thought was semi-believable. "I'm supposed to be dead, remember, Mido-san? One of my former aquaintances learned I was alive and essentially thinks I have committed identitly theft against his 'dead' friend."

Granted, nobody on the old task force had actually seen him, and the supposed crime was slightly more serious... but it was close enough to the truth.

Mido didn't seem to buy it. "They broadcasted you on television because you're suspected of identity theft..."

L twitched his nose. "It may be slightly more complicated than that, but 'identity theft' is the main concept."

That satisfied the doctor. "Ah..." Then he frowned. "Wait a minute, someone from your former life saw you??"

L shrugged. "By accident."

"Ryuzaki!! Do you realize how complicated things will get if you're that stupid??"

Those words took longer to register than they should have. Did he just call me stupid...?!

"I can take care of myself, Mido-san," L said stiffly.

But the doctor wasn't finished. "Did you think that maybe you could go back to your old life or something?? I hate to burst your bubble, but that won't be possible."

Hmm. Now that L thought about it, he realized that he had no idea or plan of what to do beyond figuring out whether Light was dead.

"I'll work it out when I get to it... Do you want anything to eat?" L changed the subject and realized that he was running out of ideas and things to say.

"Death by sugar?" Mido shuddered. "No thanks."

Oh, if he had only seen the dream he had woken me from...

As though he sensed that he had overstayed his welcome the doctor stood up to go. "Well, I know where you are and that you haven't died yet, so I should probably get going. My secretery is going to be very mad with me if I don't show before 5:30."

L shook his head. "Only at a 5% chance."

Mido frowned. "Why do you say that?"

L smirked. "Oh... No reason."

Mido shook his head. "I give up. You don't make sense half the time." He shut the door behind him.

As soon as he was gone L's smirk became a grin. He might not have been that social himself, but he knew when something was a boss-employee relationship and when something was a little deeper than that. He was rather surprised that Mido hadn't realized that he had seen as much.

L turned back to his computer. So now he had to come up with a new plan, since the police had apparently not responded to his first--

Someone knocked on his door. L rolled his eyes and opened it. "Yes Mido-san, what is it now?"

The doctor stood there with a sheepish grin on his face. "Do you have a few extra yen to spare? I only need enough for a subway ticket."

L reached in his pocket and gave the doctor some money. "Goodbye, Mido-san."

This time he made sure that the doctor left the hallway. L shook his head as he shut the door and walked over to the fridge. He hoped that he hadn't eaten all the cake last night--

There was another knock on the door.

What does he want now?? L sauntered over and threw the door open. "For the last time, what is it you--"

It was only then that he got a good look at the person standing there.

Short.

White pajamas.

White hair.

A toy robot under his arm.

L's eyes bulged as he--in 0.8 seconds--realized who he was looking at. "Nate??"

Nate--Near--who hadn't had an expression before--began to look almost afraid. "And might I ask who you are that you know my name??"

Well well. "I'll tell you if you tell me what happened to Light Yagami."

"He's dead." An automatic response.

L closed his eyes. He hadn't had any idea what he would feel upon learning what had happened to Light. "You're positive?"

"I saw him die with my own eyes."

L felt... relief. "Thank goodness..."

Near's expression faded from mildly frightened to unreadable. "Now to answer my question: you would be...?"

"Exactly who I told you I was from the very beginning."

L noticed that Near seemed to grip his robot slightly tighter. "That's not possible. There's only a likelihood of--"

"A 0.04% chance, I know." L stuck his head out into the hall and looked to make sure nobody was around. "Come in, please."

Near stepped inside without ever taking his eyes off of L. "Was that a lucky guess?"

"What?"

"The percentage you just listed. Was it a number you made up on the spot?"

"Made up? No. On the spot? Yes."

Near's eyes widened. "So how is it possible?"

L shrugged as he considered how to respond. "A... special doctor got my body."

Near frowned. "Prove it."

L raised an eyebrow. "Prove it?"

"I want to meet this doctor so I can judge for myself if you are really L."

L noticed that was the first time Nate had said his name out loud. "His name is Takeshi Mido... He lives across the city." He paused. "It's a shame you didn't get here sooner. He was here twice today, and you would have met him if you'd arrived here two minutes and thirty-one sec--"

There was a knock on the door.

L sighed, exasperated. "Again?!"

"Ryuzaki!!" the doctor yelled through the wall. "I just learned something you might want to know!!"

L sighed again. Near frowned at him, and L turned to the door. "Invite youself in, Mido-san. As it turns out there's someone here who wants to meet you."

Mido burst through but didn't stop for any introductions. Instead he dashed across the room and shut the window shades.

"Doctor Takeshi Mido?" Near asked.

Near was ignored. The doctor rushed back to the door and glanced down the hallway to make sure nobody was there. He slammed the door shut and reflexively pressed his body up against it. "Ryuzaki," Mido said, "I sure as hell hope you don't do anything else stupid to get the police's attention, because I am NOT bringing you back to life again."

Near's eyes got wider as he realized that L had been telling the truth. L's eyes got wider as he realized that Mido was actually scared about something. From what he'd perceived, it took something quite big to make him even a little antsy. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Mido just stared back. "Isn't it obvious?? Kira is back, and I am positive that he won't be happy if he learns his victims aren't all as dead as they should be!!"

AN: Honestly, what did you expect to happen? Just look at the summary for the story!

And Near... WHOA. He really wasn't kidding by "playing right into his hands" now, was he? But then again, that's just what I think of Near. I could probably picture him doing something totally drastic like that when he realizes hiding won't do him much good.

Anywho... REVIEW PRETTY PLEASE, BECAUSE IT'S L'S 30TH TODAY AND I WOULD TOTALLY LOVE IT IF EVERYONE REVIEWED BECAUSE OF THAT. (YAY!!! *has a spazzy fangirl moment*)