L's POV

I felt arms wrap around my shoulders and a soft kiss placed on my cheek as the rain poured around me. "Love, it's raining. What are you doing out here?" I glanced up at Anna who was standing behind the bench I was sitting on. She held an umbrella over us, shielding us from the rain. I looked out through the thick vail of rain.

"I hear the bell." I stated plainly. They had ringing been loudly all day. Had Anna not heard them?

"The bell?" She questioned coming to sit beside me on the wet bench. The umbrella still over our heads, not that it mattered, I was already soaked and it wasn't granting Anna much protection.

"Yes, can't you hear them? They've been ringing loudly all day. I was just wondering what they might be. Maybe a church, a wedding, perhaps a…" I stopped when I felt Anna's hand fall upon mine. The ring I gave her the previous week feeling warm against my skin.

"Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." Her thumb rubbed against mine gently.

"Meditation 17. What does that have to do with the bells?" I asked, the ringing growing louder. Her eyes moved from the wet grass to me. As soon as she did, I noticed how red and puffy her eyes were. She'd been crying. The bells forgotten, I gripped her hand in both of mine, panic surging through me. "Anna, what's wrong?"

She dropped the umbrella and threw her arms around me, letting the rain pelt us. "It's Beyond. He's dead." I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly to me as she started to sob into my shirt.

"Come on, let's get you back inside." I picked up her discarded umbrella and let her cling to me as we made our way back into the house. I sat her down at the desk in our room and began rooting through the closet for something dry for her to wear. I pulled off my own soaking shirt and tossed Anna a pair of my old sweats after noting she had only yoga pants, along with a self-proclaimed 'HANGOVER HOODIE'. I always found her owning that sweater ironic considering she hadn't even had a glass of wine since we were seventeen. I changed into dry clothes as well and went to the bathroom to grab a couple towels. When I came back, Anna was changed, but still looked miserable and confused. I threw my own towel around my shoulders to keep my shirt dry and draped Anna's around her shoulders. I knelt in front of her and started to dry the ends of her hair. "What happened?" I asked once I was satisfied that her hair wasn't dripping anymore.

She looked up at me as if she'd forgotten I was there. "Beyond's dead." She repeated, her voice much more quiet this time as if she couldn't believe it.

I ran the back of my hand over her cheek softly, "Yeah, love, you said that. What happened?"

A faint crying was heard in the other room and Anna started to get up. "I need to go get, Gia."

I stood up, placing me hands on her shoulders, "No, I'll get her. Stay here." I walked out of the room, leaving Anna sitting in the chair. Gia was in Near's arms as he patted her stomach gently trying to get her to stop crying. He looked ready to cry himself as he anxiously tapped slightly harder. I knelt in front of him, "Here." I took her from him and she stopped crying. A felt a small smile tug at my lips.

"Why are you smiling?" Near asked suddenly.

I looked up at him and then to the little one in my arms, who was squirming slightly. "You used to do that with Anna. When she'd pick you up you'd stop crying. I didn't think I'd ever be able to do that." I admitted standing up.

"Hey, L?" I stopped at looked down at Near.

I wanted to get back to Anna, but I couldn't just leave him. I help Gia close to my chest so she could see over my shoulder. "What is it?"

Near twirled a piece of hair between his fingers, "Can we talk later?"

I nodded and went back to the room I shared with Anna. Anna was sitting on the bed with her legs hanging over the side. She held her arms out at my approach and I handed her Gia. She bounced her a bit and gave her a small broken smile. "He was in a fight. He came out on the wrong end of it this time. Wammy's gone to L.A. to bring him back." Her voice was still a little shaky.

I sat next to her and put my arm around her, "It'll be okay." I knew Anna had gone to see Beyond a few years back. I wasn't supposed to know, but considering I, myself, kept a light correspondence with the criminal, he'd told me.

She nodded, "I know. We both knew we'd have to bury him eventually. I just didn't think it'd be so soon."

I saw tears begin to form once more, but I wiped them away before they could fall. "No more crying." She nodded and I kissed her cheek, "This is the last Wammy's kid we're going to be burying for a very long time. I promise."

A tiny smile tugged at her lips before she got up, "I need to go feed Gia and get dinner started. Can you-"

"I got the boys." I assured standing up.

She smiled, "Thank you."

I pressed my lips to hers, "I love you."

She got up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek, "I love you too."

Near's POV

"Checkmate." I stated causally.

Mello's face contorted in rage and knocked over all the pieces on the board. "You cheated!"

I rolled my eyes at the accusation, "I don't need to cheat to beat you. Therefore, cheating would be pointless." Mello looked as if he wanted to say something else, but stopped, looking behind me. I turned to see what he was looking at to see L standing in the door way looking between Mello and I.

"Is there a problem?" He asked.

"Near cheated!" Mello accused.

L looked to me and I shook my head, "No I didn't."

L shook his head to himself and motioned for me to follow him out of the living room and down the hall. Evidently he didn't care if I had cheated or not. Once we got to my room, he shut the door and I sat on my bed. "What did you want to talk to me about?" He asked moving the chair at my desk to face me.

I looked down for a moment before meeting his eye, "What was wrong with Anna? She went to talk to Wammy and then started crying. She even called me Mello when she handed me the baby." I still had a hard time calling the baby by her name. A new little kid at Wammy's was undeniably strange.

L's eyebrows came together in a deep frown, "Someone died." I nodded and looked down at my puzzle that was on the floor in the middle of the room. That wasn't really wanted to talk to L, but I'm sure he knew that. "Was that all?" He asked knowingly.

I shook my head, "No, its' not. I want you to explain something to me. I was going to ask Anna, but in her present condition I don't think asking is appropriate." I explained. L didn't respond, but waited patiently for me to continue. "You and Anna had a baby." I started.

L nodded, "Yes that would be how Gia came to be." L's voice was monotone, but there was a hint of teasing behind it.

I brushed it off. "Now you're getting married and starting a life together." I added.

He shrugged, "I guess you could say that. I think we've already made a life together. It has been seven years after all."

I nodded seeing his point, "Why now?" I asked finally.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're asking." He admitted, his tone unchanging.

I sighed, it was very tiresome that people didn't follow my train of thought. "Adopting us. Why are you adopting us after all this time?" I simplified.

L nodded and placed his thumb to his lips. We stared at one another for a few moments. Finally he shrugged, "I don't have an answer for you, Near. I'm sorry. Anna said she wanted to make sure you three knew you were still loved despite the baby, but I personally don't know why she decided to do this now. Not a for sure reason. Honestly she'd never mentioned it before. I always thought she was happy with the way things were." When L concluded he looked up at me and waited for me to respond.

"Two more question." I decided. L nodded, giving me permission to continue. "Matt brought this up yesterday. What are we going to call you when it's official?" Matt really had brought it up, but it wasn't as if I hadn't thought of it myself.

L cocked an eyebrow, "L? What would you like to call me?"

It was an honest question and I felt my face flush, suddenly wishing I hadn't brought it up. "Nothing, L is fine. Last question: Why did you ask Anna to marry you?" I asked.

The neutral expression that had been more or less stuck on his face since we'd began talking melted away into a small smile at the mention of Anna, "Wammy said I could." L sounded almost amused.

I didn't understand, "You asked Wammy if you could marry Anna?"

He nodded, "It's traditional to ask a woman's father for his blessing. Anna's father isn't around so Wammy was the best I could do." I nodded looking down at my socks. "Honestly though, Near," I looked up at my name. L was smiling sweetly to himself, "I asked Anna because I want her to know I love her more than anything. I've put Anna through a lot in the past seven years and we've put each other through even more in the past twenty years." He seemed to pause as if he the fact that he had known her that long just sunk in. He shook his head to clear it, "I promised her forever and I wanted to give that to her." He concluded the smile evident on his face. L smiled a lot more when he spoke of Anna, I observed. He seemed genuinely happy. I nodded and L not up. "Oh, Anna wanted you to get ready for dinner." With that L was gone. I watched the chair where he sat a few moments ago before moving to the floor to my puzzle. I wonder what Mello and Matt are going to call them once we're officially adopted.

Anna's POV

"Thanks for your help Matt." I said as he finished setting the table.

Mello shot me a look, rocking Gia in his arms, "I'm helping too!"

I smiled at him and ruffled his hair, "Yes, I know you are. Thank you, Mello." He grumbled something in audible under his breath and adjusted Gia closer to him. "Matt, will you go get L and Near?" I asked turning off the stove and taking the baby from Mello.

"No, Wammy tonight?" Mello asked surprised.

I felt my heart squeeze in pain. "No, not tonight. He had to go to L.A."

"By himself?" I nodded at Matt's question.

Luckily, before they could ask me anything else, L came into the kitchen. He caught sight of me and came over, putting an arm around me. I shouldn't be this upset over Beyond. He was a criminal, nothing more. The Beyond I saw that day at the hospital was not my friend, but a cold blooded killer. He was insane, he was different, he wasn't my B. Still, with all that known in my heart and soul, I felt like part of me had died along with my fallen friend. Indeed something had died within me and it was crushing everything around me. I felt L's arms tighten around me and Gia slip out of my arms and into his. I stepped out of his embrace, "Excuse me."

I stumbled out of the house and into the rain. I walked out the gate and down the road aimlessly, I didn't really have a set destination in mind, but my body knew where it wanted to go. Before I even really registered it, I was on my knees in front of Andrew's headstone. I ran my fingers over his name, gently tracing the letters on the marble. "Hey, bro. I, uh, Andrew, Beyond's dead. He's really gone. It's just me and L left now. Wammy went to L.A. to go collect his… uh, to get him." I wasn't sure if it was the rain falling down my cheeks or tears, but at this point it was all the same to me. "This isn't supposed to hurt like this, A." I felt arms wrap around me suddenly. Shocked, I turned quickly to see L, completely drenched, his hair covering his eyes as he held me. L pulled me into him and rested me against his chest. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was crying too.

A/N: Hey, everyone sorry for not updating in what feels like forever! My account is being weird and not letting me upload new documents. It's very frustrating. I think I've found a loophole to the problem though so, we'll see how that goes. I have a new (Well it's fairly old now) One-shot up. Its just called Valentine's Day so if you want to check it out, be my guest. Alright that's all for now!

-Insaine