I DO NOT OWN DEATH NOTE!

Hey what do you know! Two chapter added in one day. God...this fic is a hell of a lot longer then I had originally planned on it being. It just keep coming! HAHA Enjoy...another little bit of a filler chapter...but it adds to the story I think.


Chapter 20 – Saying Goodbye

"Dr. Smith? The boys guardian is here."

Derrick looked up from the paperwork he was filling out to find Roger standing in the door of his office behind one of the floor's nurses. "Roger. I was just finishing up the discharge paperwork for Near. Did you need something? Or are you just anxious to get the boys home?"

Roger nodded to the nurse as she left and closed the office door softly behind him. "I wanted to speak with you for a moment. If you don't mind."

Derrick leaned back in his chair and waved to one of the chairs facing his desk. "Not at all. What's on your mind?"

"I want to thank you for what you have done for Near. But even more, I want to thank you for what you have done for Mello. He may not say it, but it means a great deal to him that you have trusted him enough to allow him to be here with Near for all this time. Especially when he could tell that you didn't like him, or his relationship with Near, when you fist met him."

"Mello is a good boy. It did take me some time to see it, but he loves Near. And Near loves him. If it weren't for the fact that Near was always more relaxed and at peace with Mello there, I wouldn't have allowed it. And that would have been a mistake. Near was badly injured by what happened, but he wasn't the only one hurt. Watching Mello for those first few day, I could see that he was severely traumatized by what had happened. And he was frightened. Being with Near, seeing that everything possible was being done for him, watching him slowly get better, it all went a long way to easing his fears. His stress headaches have stopped and the stitches are out of his knees. Getting back to a more normal routine will go a long way to helping both of them finish healing. But their sexual relationship does still bother me. While I can see that the boys love each other, and I know that they are far more mature then their age, they are physically to young for sex."

"I understand your concern, Dr. Smith. It concerns me as well. And as I have told you before, I will speak to the boy about their relationship. But there are things you do not know about them. Very important things. And their relationship is helping to develop certain parts of them. Both of these boys have problems relating to others. Mello is brash, aggressive, and egotistical. Near is shy, quiet, and naïve about common knowledge things. Both boys are very independent. Since they have been together, Mello has calmed dramatically, become more respectful of authority, and actually does what he is told. Near has begun to come out of the shell he keeps around him. He rarely ever talks to anyone because he believes that most people do not have the intelligence to carry a conversation with him, or to understand him. Since he has been here, I have seen him having simple conversations with not only Mello, but with you and the nurses as well. I don't not think I have ever once seen Near have a simple conversation with anyone. If he does talk to someone, it is usually one word answers to a question asked of him, or he will ask a question. But he never actually talks."

"He hasn't spoken much to me either. He asks questions, I answer. I did have a short conversation with him yesterday about Mello, though. I could see in his eyes how much he loves the boy when he told me that he didn't think he would have been about to handle being in the hospital without him."

"When I found out about their relationship, I was worried. Mello used to be fairly hostile towards Near. I always thought it was because he was jealous of him. They both get top grades in their classes, so there was no jealousy there. It was over something I am not free to discuss with you. But needless to say, I do not believe the hostility was jealousy. I believe that Mello was attracted to Near and did not know how to handle it. When he was little, it was normal. Boys usually tease the girls they have a crush on, will be mean to them even though they like them. As he grew older though, he realized that being attracted to another boy wasn't normal. So he was mean because he was confused. Near largely ignored him, as he does everyone else. But someone who is a mentor to both of the boy told me that Near had been asking him questions. Questions about sex mostly. This man has been a mentor to the boys for years and he knew that Near was often curious as to why Mello was mean to him. Near wanted to be his friend. But the questions about sex and certain things Near said lead this man to believe that Near was attracted to Mello as well, even though he probably didn't realize that that was what it was at the time."

"I understand everything you are tell me, Roger. But why are you telling me all this?" Derrick leaned forward and put his elbows on his desk.

"I am telling you because I hope you will refrain from informing anyone about the relationship between the boys. I run a very strict house. The rules are followed or the children are sent elsewhere. If someone in the position were to find out that boys were having sex with each other, it could mean bad things for Whammy House. There are many gifted children who have no other place to find schooling that will truly challenge them who reside under my care. I provide a safe environment for them. Mello and Near are a special case. Even in a school for the gifted, my teachers often find themselves challenged in trying to find a course of studies to challenge those two boys. They learn very quickly and retain everything they are taught. They each read three to four college level books a week on top of their college level study plans. The fact that they are still children does not stop them from thinking like adult. Are largely, they are talked to and treated like adults. Unless of course they do something childish and need to be reprimanded." Roger put his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. "I need you to understand that they are only children in body, Dr. Smith. Perhaps in some experience as well. But they are very special boys."

Derrick smiled and shook his head. "You have told me this before, Roger. And as I have spent time with the boys, I see that you are right about them. One conversation with them and anyone could see how intelligent these boys are. But being smarter then most adults does not automatically make them such. They are 12 and 14 years old. Emotionally, they are still very young. You have not been here to watch them as Near has cried on Mello's shoulder because he isn't feeling well. You have not been here to see the panic that fills his eyes when Mello so much as leave his side for 2 minutes to use the bathroom, because he is afraid to be alone. Those are the emotions of a child. An adult would know that he is injured, but he will heal. An adult would know that it is alright to be alone for a few minutes because he wont be for long. And an adult would know that you do not have to sit beside a hospital bed and watch the one laying in it until you pass out from exhaustion. They are smart boys, and they are very mature for their age, but they are emotionally still children."

Roger gave the doctor a tired smile and sat back to cross his legs. "Mello has always been overly emotional. Near being hurt has shaken him. He told me about passing out in the PICU because he had been so busy watching Near. It happened because every time Near woke up he was in pain. And he didn't want Near to have to wake him up when he needed him. Mello has become very protective of him. He doesn't like seeing Near is pain and he is doing anything he can to make sure he is comfortable. Near is on some very heavy medications on top of a head injury. He is scared, something he has never felt before, and he is in pain, something he has never experienced to such an extent. His crying and being afraid to be alone are not the emotions of a child. I have seen grown men cry for their mothers and beg to not be left alone when hurt."

The doctor nodded, sighed, and rubbed his hands over his face. "I do not plan on telling anyone about their relationship. But there have been many people that have seen them together. Other doctors, nurses, the parents of other children that were in the PICU and on this floor. Mello has been behaving himself and had not acted inappropriately, so most will probably think that they are brothers. But there are a few that have guessed at their relationship. Mostly the nurses who have been taking care of Near. The signs of sexual activity were recorded on his chart when he was examined in the emergency room. But most of those who know don't seem to mind it. They enjoy the boys."

"Most? How many have been making noise about them?"

"Only one has approached me with concerns. Mainly because we have never allowed a child to stay with another child in the hospital before. She didn't like that Mello sleeps in the bed with Near curled up against him. Especially after readying the in his chart that the boy had been very recently sexually active when he was examined. She came to me and expressed concerns. She thought it curious that Near had had sex soon before he was seriously injured. I told her that the two were not related and that she needed to mind her own business and just do her job. I changed her rotation so she is caring for patients on the other side of the floor." He shrugged and spread his hands. "There is nothing I can do to stop tongues wagging when the boys leave. But I will not tell anyone."

"You should make it clear to your people that the boys are very close, but not as close as they think. It could be bad for both of us if someone comes looking around my house because they heard that there are boys engaging in sexual activities."

"I see how it could be bad for you, and I do not want to see any harm come to you because of this. But how would things be bad for me?"

Roger opened his jacked and pulled an envelope from an inside pocket. He tossed it onto the desk and folded his hands in his lap. When the doctor just looked at it, Roger sighed and waved a hand at the package. "Go on. Open it."

"Paying me off will not help you. I already told you I will keep the boys secret."

"It is not money. Open it."

Derrick frowned and opened the envelope and pulled out the papers. Roger watched all the color drain from his face as he opened the pages and looked at a photo copy of the newspaper story printed after he had killed his brother. "Where did you get this?"

"I have my sources, David."

"Don't call me that. I legally changed my name when I was 18. I am Derrick Smith now."

"Yes, I know. But after reading that, I understood why you were so hostile toward Mello when you first met him. He looks a lot like your brother." Roger leaned forward again and looked at the doctor when he raised his eyes from the picture on the paper. "But Mello is not your brother. He did not force Near into anything. I am very sorry that something so terrible happened to you when you were a child. I have had experience working with boys who came to me from an abusive home. A few who were sexually abused. I know how such a thing can destroy a child. But you made the abuse stop. And you have made yourself into a good man. You are a wonderful doctor and I have never met a man outside of those I employ in my house that have been able to connect with Near and Mello. They both like you very much. Mello looks up to you. You have taken great care of the person he loves."

Derrick cleared his throat and folded the papers, putting them back in the envelope. "Do they know?"

"No. They don't. I warned Mello to be wary of the level of affection he showed to near while they are here. But I did not see the need to tell him about your past. By the time I knew about it, you had changed how you were acting towards them. If you hadn't, I would have warned him that he looks like your brother, and told him why that was a bad thing."

"It shocked me, the first time I saw him. He was a ghost from my past sitting next to you in the waiting room. When you told me he was the one who had been having sex with my patient," he sighed and put his hands over his eyes. "I was prepared to protect Near in anyway I could. I was prepared to make sure Mello didn't go anywhere near him, so he couldn't hurt him again. And then I saw them together. I saw the love in their eyes, how much Mello truly cares for Near. I knew that this boy wasn't my brother. And I knew that he would never do anything to hurt his lover." Derrick pressed his thumbs into his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Dropping his hands, he looked over his desk at the other man. "What do you plan on doing with this information?"

"Nothing. For now. I do not wish to see any harm come to you, Derrick. But I will do anything I need to in order to protect my house and my students. If information about the relationship between Mello and Near makes its way to the wrong ears and brings harm to my house, I will bring this knowledge forward. I will make it seem as if you have spread this information because your past came back to haunt you in the form of a boy who looks like your brother."

"And if the information isn't spread because of me?"

"It doesn't matter. I will use the information I have to protect myself, my school, and those boys. But if it helps matters, if that does happen, I will see to it that you are offered a job somewhere else. A good job doing what you are good at."

"I cant say I appreciate you dragging up my past, but I do understand why you would do it. I will talk to my people, tell them that there is nothing going on between the boys but friendship. The only information about the sexual activity that I have added to Near's chart is that there was evidence of it. According to procedure, I am supposed to talk to Near and ask about it. I will add a note to his chart that the anal penetration evidence I found was caused by a young boy finding a new way to pleasure himself. It isn't unheard of. That should dissuade people from assuming that it was caused by Mello, especially since he has been so well behaved. The only one other then myself who knows the truth is the nurse, Amy, from the PICU."

"Mello tells me that she has come down to visit them every day since Near was transferred out of the PICU. They enjoy her company."

"Amy is a good woman. She likes the boys. She wont tell anyone about them. In fact she has been defending them and helping to hide their true relationship."

Roger stood and gathered his coat from the back of the chair. "Thank you, Derrick. I hope everything works out. I would hate to see you lose your job here, since the boys like you so much." He held out his hand and Derrick stood to shake it. "I would like to bring the boys home now, if the paper work is finished."

"Of course. I am almost finished here. I just need to call down to the pharmacy and have them bring up the prescriptions I ordered for you to bring home with Near. And finish the home care info sheet for you and Mello. I'm assuming Mello will be helping care for him at home?"

"I imagine he will, yes. I wait in the room with the boys." Roger left the office and closed the door behind him.

Derrick sat back in his chair and looked down at the envelope still sitting on his desk. He sighed and pushed it into the bottom drawer of his desk. Then he picked up the phone and called the pharmacy before he finished the final paperwork on Near's stay in the hospital.