Near's POV

"I'm worried about her." Matt said suddenly, not looking up from his game. The room had been rather quiet other than the soft music coming from Matt's game.

"What are you talking about?" Mello asked. I looked up from my house of cards.

Matt had his feet propped up on Mello's lap. Mello was reading some book, but it had been placed on his lap so the title was hidden. "Anna. I'm worried about her." Matt said moving into a sitting position.

"She seems fine to me." Mello pointed out.

I went back to my house of cards. "You don't honestly think she's okay do you? L just took off without her. I don't think they've been apart for one day since they met." Matt answered. Mello didn't answer.

"That's not true. L worked cases without Anna when he was first starting out. Don't you remember staying home with just her?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Matt said, "Still she's not used to it anymore."

I shook my head as I finished my house of cards. "It's more than not being used to it. I heard them arguing outside the night he left." I commented, enlightening my brothers.

"What? Why didn't you say anything?" Mello asked.

I shrugged, "What good would it do? I mean, L's still gone now that you know and Anna's still unhappy."

"Stop being a know-it-all, Near. What were they arguing about?" Matt said and I turned inward a bit.

"I don't know. Their voices were muffled." I explained.

"Then how do you know they were arguing?" Mello asked.

I rolled my eyes turning away from my cards and going to play with my puzzle. "You can tell by tone, Mello. Anyways, she's probably upset because he left on a bad note." I reasoned not looking at them. "Well, genius take a guess on what it could be." Mello said venomously.

I glanced up, "If I had to guess I'd say the case L is on."

We heard the door start to open and we all went silent. "Hey." We looked up to see Anna standing in the doorway. She was smiling at us, but her eyes looked sad. She was wearing black jeans and white sweater that read 'If you're a bird I'm a bird' in black writing. She had on black gloves, boots, and a beanie. "I'm going to go out for a bit, but I shouldn't be long. Do you guys need anything?" She asked.

We all shook our heads, "Where are you going?" I asked quickly.

She waved off my question, "Don't worry, I'll be back." With that she was gone. The three of us looked between one another, silently praying she was alright.

Anna's POV

I laid out a throw blanket I'd brought with me on the show covered ground and knelt down on it. I wiped away the snow from the marble slab to reveal the name of the one person I needed to talk to: Andrew. I read over the name a few times and then sat down folding my legs at my sides. I gave the stone a soft smile, "Hey, Andrew. I'm sorry it's been so long since I've been here, but I was working a couple cases with L and then there's the boys…" My voice trailed off. If anyone saw me out here they'd probably think I was crazy, but I didn't really care. "You'd be really proud of them if you could see them. Its Matt's birthday in a few days, he's going to be fourteen. He reminds me of you a little bit. He always seems so happy and carefree, but he's always there when Near or Mello need him. He started smoking again, but I think we broke him of it during the case. The three boys ended up coming with us about half way through the case. In reality they're the ones that solved it. I was so proud of them."

I frowned and looked down to the ground, "Beyond's in jail. He, uh, he killed three people. L and I solved that one alone. I went to see him afterwards. He's insane. He isn't B anymore, he changed."

I looked back to the grave and gave a bittersweet smile, "You know, you're going to be an uncle." I laughed to myself and sniffled, "I- I'm already two months along, so you can't really tell yet."

I blinked back tears, "I really miss you, Andrew. I know it's been years, but I'm still not used to you not being here. Sometimes I just need my brother. L tries to be there but… it's not the same." Andrew had been my brother in every aspect, except blood. He'd been there for me no matter what and I loved him the way he loved me. He'd done everything he could to help me and in the end, I hadn't been able to help him. Not when he needed me most.

A ragged sigh escaped my lips as I fought back tears, "Andrew, I don't know what to do. L took a case without me and I haven't heard from him in three weeks. I call, but his stupid phone is always off. So I don't really know what's going on with him." I looked out over the blanket of snow trying to compose myself. Andrew never liked to see me cry. I wiped away a few tears before turning back to the grave.

"I wish you were here to help me out like you used to. You could have been great, Andrew. God, you have no idea how much I miss you. I'm just rambling now." I shook my head to myself, "I should get back to Wammy's. I told the boys I wouldn't be long." I pressed two of my fingers to my lips then to the stone. I stood up and folded the blanket, "I'll be back soon though. Maybe I'll bring the boys to meet you." I thought about how emotional I got when I came to the cemetery and gave the headstone a sad smile, "Maybe not. I'll talk to you later Andrew. I, uh, I fell a little better." With that I turned and walked out of the cemetery.

L's POV

The case was finally done. O' Reilly had arrested the man and now I just had to gather all the relevant information I'd uncovered and send it over to him. "Ryuzaki."

I turned away from my laptop to see Watari standing in the door way watching me over his glasses. "Yes?" I asked indifferently.

"Have you spoken with Anna?" I looked down and bit my tongue. "She's been calling for three weeks, you haven't called her back at all?"

I shook my head, "No, I was busy." I stated.

Watari raised an eyebrow, "You were too busy? She's probably very worried about you."

I looked away, "She's not worried she's mad at me. I told her I wasn't going to take the case, that's way I was in such a hurry to leave." I admitted standing up from my spot in the middle of the room and moving to the well-lit sitting room. I felt Watari follow me.

"Lawliet, why did you lie to her?"

"Because she's infuriating and she didn't want me to take the case because I wouldn't let her come." I sat in the arm chair with my knees pulled to my chest, "Now she's mad at me. I've decided that if I don't call she can have some time to stop being mad. We'll be able to talk about everything when I get home."

Watari sighed and sat on the chair across from me, "Why didn't she want you to take it?"

I watched him carefully, where was he going with this? "She said we do things as a team. If she wasn't going neither was I." I stated feeling a little sick remembering how upset she'd been when I told her I had to go.

"I don't think that was the only reason. I think she worries about you, just like you worry about her."

"Are you trying to say I should have let her come with?" I asked. Watari shook his head, "I'm not saying that. I'm not picking sides. I do however think you should call her."

I watched Watari for a moment before shaking my head, "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Watari asked sounding more like a father than I'd heard him sound since I'd started taking cases.

"She's going to want to talk about everything and I'm not ready. I'd rather wait until I see her in person."

Watari shook his head, "Alright, when will that be?"

"A few days, next week." I answered.

He sighed, "Okay." Watari got up and started toward the door, but stopped suddenly, turning back to me, "Matt and Mello also called this morning." Then he was gone. I sighed and pulled out my cellphone. I stared at it for a moment debating on what to do. Sighing, I shoved it back into my pocket. I would see Anna in a few days. It would be alright until then.

Anna's POV

I put the boys to sleep and went into my own room. I changed into my pajamas and crawled into my side of the bed. I stared into the emptiness that was L's side of the bed. Three weeks. He'd been gone for three weeks. I dialed his number one more time and pressed it to my ear. As expected it went straight to voicemail. "Hey, it's me. I just wanted to talk to you, but obviously you're phone's still off. Call me when you can, bye." I laid on my back staring up at the ceiling and holding my phone to my chest. I felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes once again. I couldn't cry. I put my phone to the side and placed my hands on my stomach. "How on earth did we end up like this?" I asked no one. I rolled over onto my side, cuddling into a pillow.

I was about to drift off to sleep when I heard my obnoxious ring tone go off. I opened it without looking at the caller ID, "L?" I questioned quickly.

"Anna?" My heart stopped.

"Wammy? Is everything alright? Is L okay?" I asked not giving him a chance to answer.

"Everything's fine, Anna. I wanted to call to check on you. How are you?"

I hugged my knees to my chest, "I'm okay. Where is L?" I felt myself beginning to calm down.

"He's asleep. He hasn't slept in a few days."

I laughed once, "That makes two of us. Why hasn't he called?"

Wammy sighed, "Anna that is between the two of you."

I nodded to myself, "Of course. Well thank you for calling."

"Good night, Anna."

I bit my lip, "Good night, Wammy." I hung up and grabbed the pillow back to my chest. L was alright. Now he just needed to finish whatever he was doing and come home.

A/N: I am so sorry this is so short. The next chapter will be longer I promise!

-Insaine