Chapter 2: And the Band Played On
Thanks to my reviewers LizLuvsSpongebob and Sybill Corvax!! Knowing that this alternate story is actually getting some readers and reviewers keeps me trying to write. This chapter will be quite long, which is to make up for my lack of updating sometimes. I have added a page specifically for this fanfiction on my website if anyone is interested in pictures of Ellie's wedding dress or Ellie and Laurent's house in Britain. My webpage link can be found on my profile page. I do not own Death Note, its characters or its plot. I do however own Ellie, more bills than I can keep up with, and a fiancé who is currently snoozing as I'm typing this lol.
Ellie and Laurent got out of the car and walked into what looked to be a field. Ellie saw a small church house. "I wasn't even aware places like this existed," she said thinking out loud.
"Its quite stunning isn't it?" Laurent said looking out at the field.
Ellie took in the sight. It was February so the snow was still covering the ground and the churchyard, but it glistened in the sun like some kind of gem. She enjoyed the feel of the open air. She look it over and then her face fell. She remembered why they were there. They were there because Watarai had passed on and this place was just a field of death.
Ellie nodded to Laurent after she gave the place one last look over. They walked into the church building and sat in the pews. Ellie began to pull the tissues out of her pocket cursing herself for not picking up another pack. She knew that five tissues were not going to hold her.
The service began soon after and all of the friends had piled in. Ellie caught sight of a face of someone she recognized. She hadn't seen Roger since she was 16 years old and scared to death of what was going to happen to her in an insane asylum. She knew that he was a friend of Watarai; she just for some reason hadn't expected to see him at the funeral.
The funeral service was quite short and the stay outside was also quite short. The snow fell softly as they lowered the coffin into the ground.
"He went to this church as a child," Laurent said to her quietly. "His parents are buried here as well."
Ellie was surprised. She hadn't thought much about Watarai's life other than when it correlated to the present. "He grew up around this area then?" Ellie questioned quietly as well.
"Yes," Laurent said.
"How do you know that?" Ellie asked. She had assumed that he kept to himself; he just seemed that type of person.
"I was born in that church," Laurent said pointing back to the church building.
"Really?" Ellie said trying to hold her in shock. She had never really thought too much about his personal life before she met him either, other than his life at the orphanage.
"Yes, I was abandoned at birth," L said. "Until I went to Wammy's house I spent a lot of my time orphanage jumping," Laurent said almost smirking at that comment. Ellie held back all emotion until after the funeral. She didn't want to look like she didn't care about Watarai, but she also didn't want to think about Watarai, afraid that if she started crying she wouldn't be able to stop herself.
Laurent and Ellie listened to the last of the parting words for Watarai and for friends and family. Ellie wasn't aware that any family was there, but she wasn't quite sure, maybe it was just something that the priest got used to saying at funerals.
Ellie and Laurent walked back to the car. In the parking lot Ellie realized, their car didn't really stick out all that much.
"Watarai had some rich friends," Ellie said quietly to Laurent.
Laurent nodded and opened Ellie's door in a very gentleman like manner and Ellie slid into the car. She shivered a couple times. She hadn't been dressed for a snowfall like this, but she should have known they would get snow. Laurent got in the driver's side and turned on the heat immediately shivering himself.
Much of the car ride passed in silence. Neither of them brought up anything though they should have been talking about many things at that point in time.
"So what's the plan now," Ellie finally said not knowing exactly where they were driving. She had missed a lot of the countryside when she fell asleep as they drove through the first time so she didn't know where they were at all.
"Going to see our house," Laurent said.
"Oh yeah," Ellie said.
"You had forgotten?" Laurent asked.
Ellie nodded. She had butterflies in her stomach now. Our house? She had never considered it her house at all; it was L's house, well Laurent's house.
"How far from the church is it?" Ellie asked.
"Not very far, it's on the outskirts of the city," Laurent said focusing on the road now.
Ellie was confused. First he seems like he was halfway flirting with her and then he was back to his cold self. She wondered if she would ever get used to that.
Laurent pulled up in the driveway of a home about a half an hour later. Ellie had been looking at the window and immediately as she felt the car stop, shifted her eyes to the house. It was actually not what Ellie had been expecting.
It was completely brick with big windows around the front. The house wasn't too big, which was something Ellie had expected, but it looked just the right size for a family of four or five to live comfortably. Ellie realized for the first time that day that she was harboring a family member right now who would make his or her appearance sometime in September by her calculations.
Ellie got out of the car and walked closer to the house. It had a small brick wall, which looked like it was only big enough to keep a few small animals out of the yard that didn't have jumping capabilities. She was in the driveway though, so the wall was around her and not in front of her. She walked to the door. She could already see that she was gong to love living here.
"It's beautiful," Ellie gasped to herself.
Laurent unlocked the door handing Ellie her own key to the house. Ellie put the key on her keychain and rubbed the smooth metal as she placed it back into her pocket. When he opened the door she gasped once again.
The house opened to a small entrance room with a closet for coats. Ellie placed her own wool coat in the closet and saw a small fainting couch in the entranceway as well. Fainting couches hadn't really been a big thing since the Victorian era and Ellie was surprised to find one in the house. She knew it wasn't an actual fainting couch, but it was a good reproduction of one.
Ellie continued walking through the wood double doors into what looked to be a living room. There were two bookshelves, a stereo, a small fireplace that seemed pretty modern, a couple of loveseats, some artwork on the walls, a vase full of flowers on the coffee table that sat in front of the fireplace. Ellie gasped as she was swept through an archway to the kitchen with a combined dining area. The kitchen had lots of counter space and an island with more space. She noted that there was a built in wine holding device in the island so she suspected Laurent was older than her by at least year. She had never bothered asking him before that point.
"How old are you?" Ellie asked.
Laurent gave her a look like she had just blurted out the most obscure question. "I am 23," Laurent said. "I will be 24 in October,"
Ellie felt a bit guilty. Laurent's birthday was in October, and she hadn't known so she hadn't wished him a happy birthday that year.
"Your 20 right?" Laurent said. Ellie blushed. She hadn't realized that she never told him her age either.
"19," Ellie said. "That's pretty close though, how did you guess?"
"You are in you're second year of college and if you started on time as most do in your country, you would have started college at 18, and this being your second year you would be going on 20 sometime this year," Laurent said.
"In May," Ellie said.
Laurent nodded. He took her through the kitchen to the stairway. The stairway had a small nook area for playing chess and lounging. Ellie walked up the stairs with Laurent and noted that there was a hall at the stairway with everything going toward the right. She was at the end of the hall and there was a big window to her left. She walked to the right peering in the first doorway. There was a very executive looking office room and a bathroom across the hallway. She continued walking and looked in on the next two doors that were also across the hall from one another. She saw a metal bed frame, a fireplace, and a few bland furnishing in one room and the other room had nothing in it at all, but a rickety looking rocking chair.
"Who's room is this?" Ellie asked.
"The baby's," Laurent said. "I thought you would know better what to put in that room so I'll leave that you,"
Ellie nodded. She continued walking and saw that there were only two doors left and other window at the end of that hall. She looked in the door on the right next to the baby's room and she saw another bathroom. She looked to the door on the left next to the room she presumed to be Laurent's and saw the most beautiful bed she had ever seen in her life. It had somewhat of a canopy and the light that filled the room absolutely overjoyed her. She had flowers in a vase on a table in her room and a lamp on a nightstand. Her dresser was wood and looked very sturdy. There was a rug on the wood floor. She gasped more for that room than she had any other.
"Do you like it," Laurent asked.
"I do," Ellie, said barely able to speak in her awe. She hadn't expected them to be able to live in a room together even though they were to be married. She never knew how little they really knew about each other. She wanted to know more about Laurent, but she didn't know what questions to ask. She was first of all way to flattered to ask him certain questions, he had done so much to marry her and start a life with her it seemed selfish to question why they weren't in the same room. He obviously knew her pretty well if he could design a room like this just for her.
We will be staying here after you finish your second year and get your license to be a nurse assistant. That will leave you time to rest before the baby will it not?" Laurent asked.
Ellie nodded. She had wanted to stay in college to get an advanced practice degree possibly even a doctorate, but things came up and happened and sometimes it was best just to go with the flow.
"I wanted to show you the house and now we have seen it, if you would like we can go and sit in the family room and we can talk about what is going on these next few months before we come here to live in the spring," Laurent said.
Ellie nodded again. They walked back down the stairs and Ellie sat herself on a loveseat facing the coffee table and Laurent sat on the one on the other side of the coffee table. Neither of them sat together on the couch that was behind the coffee table and facing the fireplace.
"When would you like to get married?" Laurent asked.
"Soon," Ellie said. "If we wait too long people will start to realize why we got married, which would not look good for either of us," Ellie said.
"This is true," Laurent said nodding. "How soon is soon?"
"A few weeks I guess I wasn't planning on having a big ceremony or anything just maybe elope with a few people present.
"That sounds comfortable," Laurent said nodding again. "Is that what you want?"
Ellie's mind almost wanted to scream. "Of course is not what I want. I want to finish my education. I want to get married because the person I want to marry is mutually in love with me, not because he knocked me up and now we are moving in together in a house that is way too expensive for someone like me. I feel like I have used you to get here and now I've ruined not only my life, but yours along with it." Instead her mouth answered, "It sounds perfect."
"Who do you want to be the witness?" Laurent asked.
Ellie gulped. "I sort of already invited Matsuda to the wedding, so I guess he can be one," Ellie said.
Laurent laughed. This took Ellie aback. She hadn't remembered a time when L had ever really laughed. "I guess that works out well. Anyone else?"
"I don't know that many people," Ellie said.
Laurent nodded. "Well, I believe we only need two witnesses as is customary. You can get back to me with your choice of the second person later."
"Yes," Ellie said nodding her head.
"And, have you any idea which apartment you would like to move into?" Laurent asked.
"Oh," Ellie said. "I hadn't thought about that. I will start making phone calls," Ellie said.
"You can connect to the wireless Internet on your laptop anywhere in the house," Laurent said leaving the room and heading toward the kitchen. "I will be upstairs in the office," he added as he disappeared into the kitchen."
Ellie connected to the Internet and found a few prospective places. She wrote down the specs and walked upstairs to the office where she found Laurent entranced in his computer screen.
Ellie cleared her throat and Laurent said, "I am working on a puzzle at the moment, but I should be done in a few minutes if you would like to take a seat." Laurent pointed her to a chair nearby the desk. Ellie felt a bit like she was going to a meeting with a big CEO and she was being asked to wait for him to get out of a meeting before she could meet him. She looked over at Laurent and saw that he was sitting in the chair just as he had when he sat in a chair any other time. Ellie thought he looked a bit like a bird perching.
A few minutes later Laurent turned to her and sat in his chair more comfortably. "Did you find anything?" he asked her.
"Yes I found quite a few, what price range would you like to keep in?" Ellie asked.
"No particular price range, but I would like a building with some kind Internet hookup for communication purposes," Laurent said.
Ellie nodded. She moved a couple of the papers she had been holding into the garbage container by her chair. "There are a few like that," Ellie said. "Two bedroom or one bedroom?" Ellie asked. This was the way to put that question of separate bedrooms in there without seeming as if she were ungrateful of the home she had been given.
"Two," Laurent said not leaving any pause to indicate thinking.
Ellie nodded again and slipped a few more papers into the container.
"There is one close the campus," Ellie said looking over the stack that was left in her hands. "It fits all of the criteria."
"Make the preparations then, I am always packed to go," Laurent said focusing in on his computer screen.
Ellie nodded and walked out the door. She made the necessary phone calls and she got the apartment plans set up. She would have to swing by the building that the Kira Investigation team was currently clearing out of and get the rest of her stuff, but she didn't want to bring it with her to Britain because she knew she wouldn't be staying here very long before she would be back in Japan once again.
Ellie slept in her bedroom that night. The mattress felt so soft under her aching back that she just melted into it and was out like a light. When she woke up the next morning feeling completely rested.
She walked down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen where she spotted Laurent. He wasn't doing anything of interest, he almost seemed like he was in a trance. Ellie was afraid to move him or anything; she wasn't sure exactly what he was doing. She walked past him slowly and made her way over the island counter and began making pancake batter. Finally she couldn't take the silence and broke it by saying, "Do you like pancakes?"
Laurent's head snapped around to look at her. Ellie almost jumped out of her skin with how fast of a reaction she got.
"I will have one, with syrup," Laurent said and once again he was back in his trance.
Ellie mixed up a small batch of pancakes and placed the plate in front of Laurent not sure what to say.
She sat down in a chair with her own plate and ate silently. Finally Laurent snapped out of whatever form of meditation he was doing and began to eat his own breakfast.
After moments of silence he finally said, "This is good."
Ellie smiled. "So were you just meditating a bit ago?" Ellie asked after she finished chewing a mouthful of pancake.
"Thinking," Laurent said and then looked away from her.
Ellie sighed and didn't push the issue anymore. Eventually he might tell her, but honestly he was probably thinking about the quickest way to dump her ass. She was definitely not going to be fun to be around in a few months. She already knew she was going to be a hormonal wreck, she could feel that coming along already, but she wasn't sure if that was from the emotional problems she was already carrying around or if it was pregnancy emotional problems. Either way she knew she was in for more in the months to come.
"What are you thinking about?" Ellie felt herself asking after many moments of silence. She hadn't wanted those words to slip out of her mouth, but they just did.
Laurent turned around and looked at her curiously. "I was thinking about having the wedding here in this house," Laurent said. "I have been reading up on getting married in Japan and we are both not legal residents so it would be quite difficult to get around to getting married in a timely fashion."
"Oh," Ellie said. She hadn't though of that. "What are the laws for marriage here?"
"Need someone registered to marry us, need two witnesses at the ceremony, I am a legal resident so getting married here will not be an issue," Laurent said.
Ellie nodded. "Do you know of anyone who will come and be a witness," Ellie said.
"No," Laurent said. "Laurent doesn't have any colleagues or close friends yet. I've only had a few days to put him together."
Ellie nodded again. "I already promised Matsuda an invitation, so that's one witness as I mentioned yesterday," Ellie said.
"Do you know anyone else who would be willing to be a witness?" Laurent asked finishing the last of the pancake.
"Hmm," Ellie said thinking.
"I think I have someone in mind," Ellie said after moments of silence.
"Who?" Laurent asked attempting to lick the syrup off the plate.
"Are you going to be ok, I promise I'm not going to cut you off of sugar to the point where you have to lick syrup off of a plate," Ellie said looking a little nervous.
Laurent nodded and set the plate back on the table.
"I think I'm going to invite Misa, that should be fun," Ellie said thinking out loud again and sarcastically at that.
"Then we have our two witnesses, I will contact someone to marry us soon, you are probably missing many classes to be here now aren't you?" Laurent asked slyly.
"Well, uhm, yeah a little bit," Ellie said.
"Best make it very soon then," Laurent said again. "Luckily I have prepared for such. You will find that you have a dress in your closet upstairs that I believe will be to your liking. I have of course guessed on the size, but I believe that you haven't gained any weight yet from the pregnancy so it should be accurate."
Ellie was shocked. "You guessed my weight, and height and dress measurements!" she almost yelled at him. She felt somewhat insulted, but knew that he meant well by it. "Sorry got a little out of control there," she said thinking out loud once again.
Laurent just laughed. Ellie had expected him to run or call the whole thing off and ditch his crazy pregnant fiancé, but he thought it was charming. He just continued to laugh and said, "I found the measurements from the tag in that blue dress you wore. It fit you then, so I assumed something of the same dimensions would still fit you," Laurent said.
Ellie blushed. She had been jumping to conclusions in her head. She was actually flattered that he got her a wedding dress and that he wanted things to be a little traditional despite the nature of the wedding. She smiled.
"Well you had best try it on before the ceremony to be sure that the measurements are up to date," Laurent said.
Ellie nodded and placed the dirtied dishes in the sink to wash at a later time. She walked up the stairs and into her room. She threw open the closet doors and was amazed to find that indeed there was a dress bag hanging in the closet. She saw that her closet had a shelf above it for some of her sheets and such, and there were a few sheets, a throw blanket, and an extra comforter already stashed in that space. She also found a small box and she placed the box to the side planning to open it later. She unzipped the dress bag and gasped.
It wasn't much, but the dress was stunning. It was white, strapless and looked as if it would fit her perfectly. She tried it on, soon finding out that it did fit, but it was going to be impossible for her to zip herself into it. She decided not to zip it up and slide it off her body. She didn't want Laurent to see it on her until the day of the wedding.
She looked in the box and was marveled. The dress may have been a little plain, but the jewelry that was to go with it made up for that. She picked up the small hairpiece and watched how it seemed to sparkle with the sunlight. The necklace matched and she wondered how in the hell Laurent had been able to pull this off. Not the price of it, she knew he had the money do to this, but the time, the effort, she didn't seem to think a person who dressed themselves everyday in a white long sleeved shirt and blue jeans would know what they were doing when it came to clothing or jewelry for a wedding.
Ellie laid herself back on her bed and decided that she should probably call both Matsuda and Misa. Travel plans would need to be made as well as accommodations as to where they would be staying. Ellie wasn't sure that the house had enough room for both parties there certainly weren't enough beds.
The first thing she did was calling Misa. Ellie used the phone that was on the wall of the stairway nook. Misa was not hard to get a hold of because she of course was always carrying her cell around. She answered the phone cheerfully, "Misa Misa here how can I help you?"
"Misa, it's me, Ellie," Ellie said into phone attached to the wall in the stairway nook.
"Ellie?" Misa questioned. "Aren't you in Britain?" She asked.
"Yes," Ellie said. "I wanted to know if you wanted to be a witness at my wedding," Ellie said.
"A wedding!" Misa exclaimed. "Oh how romantic. You are able to bounce back from L so quickly?" Misa questioned.
"I was never interested in L!" Ellie almost shouted into the earpiece. She cursed herself for being so short with Misa. Misa meant well, most of the time.
"Sorry Ellie-chan Misa just thought," Misa said.
"I know Misa it's ok, I miss L, but he's gone and I'm sure he wouldn't mind that I'm getting married," Ellie said. "He shouldn't mind considering he is the one I'm marrying," she thought to herself.
"Well, I guess that makes sense," Misa said. "So where are you going to be married?" Misa asked excited once again about the prospect of a wedding.
Ellie gave Misa the directions to the home and she promised to book a room in a local hotel for Misa to accommodate her. They both said goodbye and hung up the phone to talk once again when the plans were made for hotel reservations and time and date for the wedding.
Ellie braced herself for the next phone call. She knew that her marrying Laurent hurt Matsuda. She knew that he didn't like the idea too much and perhaps it was because he was jealous of Laurent, but Ellie doubted that. "Don't be so full of yourself, not everyone is interested in you like that," Ellie thought to herself as she dialed his cell phone number in. She heard the phone ring a few times before Matsuda finally picked up the phone.
"Hello?" Matsuda asked confused.
"Matsuda," Ellie said. "It's me Ellie."
"Hello Ellie," Matsuda said very calmly. Whatever anger he had earlier had dissipated. Ellie was glad for that, she liked Matsuda much better when he was his usual self.
"You know that wedding I invited you to?" Ellie asked.
"Yes," Matsuda said.
"Well, it turns out it's being moved up and its taking place here in Britain. I would really like it if you would be a witness at my wedding Matsuda," Ellie said bracing herself for the rejection. She didn't think that Matsuda would want to fly out just for a wedding; he had way too much to do finding a job and getting back into normal life after the Kira investigation.
"Where and when," Matsuda asked.
Ellie smiled and gave Matsuda all of the instructions promising to call back once she reserved a room for him. She was so relieved that this had worked out that she just couldn't wipe the smile off of her face once she got off the phone with Matsuda.
Everything was working out good so far, now all she had to do was figure out how to make it work out the rest of her life. What a task that was turning out to be.