L's POV

I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she slept and let my hand train down her cheek and to her shoulder. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. Like all the troubles of the day that she was dealing with were washed away. She was curled up into a little ball, facing me. Her hands were loosely balled into fists that were halfway covered by her sleeves. She'd taken to wearing one of my shirts to bed lately, I didn't mind. Whatever made her feel better was fine with me. The ring I'd given her was still on her finger and the necklace rested around her neck. I gently kissed her cheek and rested my hand on her waist. I heard the baby monitor start to make some noise and pulled away from Anna. She rolled over, but didn't wake up.

I walked into the nursery to find Misa already there. "You can go back to bed. I've got it." I informed her reaching to take Gia out of her hands.

She hesitated, but handed Gia over to me. Gia was wide awake, but she wasn't crying. "I just wanted to see her." Misa confessed watching me, "I didn't mean to wake her up."

I rocked Gia a little bit before looking from the baby to Misa. "It doesn't really matter what you meant to do. The fact of the matter is you did, indeed wake up my daughter." I sat down on the floor, leaning against the crib, rocking Gia back and forth.

Misa sat down next to me, watching me carefully. "What's wrong with Anna?" She asked quietly. So she'd noticed the change too.

I shrugged, "She's having a hard time dealing with our friend's death. They didn't part on the best of terms." I replied thinking about the letter Beyond had written to me regarding their meeting. "She'll be fine." I looked back down to Gia. Her eyes were open, watching me. She had Anna's eyes. I ran my knuckles down her cheek gently and smiled. She was adorable and she was mine.

"It must be hard in the meantime. Taking care of the baby all by yourself." I glanced up to Misa. She was looking around the room.

"I'm not taking care of her by myself. The boys are a lot of help and Anna takes care of her." It was true. Even if Anna wasn't entirely herself, she'd never neglected what she thought needed to get done. It was harder for her, but she was a lot stronger than she was giving herself credit for. "Go to bed, Misa. I've got this." I stated, I just wanted to get Gia back to sleep so I could get back to Anna.

"I just want to help." Misa maintained. I sighed, why did she feel the need to try and be useful?

"I don't need help." A glance to Misa sent her out the door. It didn't take very long to get Gia back to sleep after that and I snuck back into the bedroom where Anna was still sleeping peacefully. I got in next to her and pressed my lips to the exposed skin on her shoulder.

Anna's POV

I rolled over to find L watching me, a surprised expression on his face. "You're awake."

I nodded. "So are you." I could see the dark circles beginning to reform under his eyes.

He took my hand and placed a kiss to my palm. "I'm not tired."

I gave him a small smile, "Liar."

A sigh escaped his lips as he pulled me into him, but he didn't confirm or deny my claim. I rested my hand on his cheek, causing him to meet my eye. "You're going to get sick if you keep worrying so much."

He shrugged, "I'm not worried, I was just thinking about something."

"Something that's kept you up for three days?" I questioned.

He looked down confused, "How did you know that?"

I almost rolled my eyes, "I know everything. You're not exactly the master of secrecy when it comes to these things. What's up, L?"

He shifted in discomfort before answering, "I don't know how to start this." I waited patiently for him to continue. Honestly, I just wanted to go back to sleep, but I had to hear what he was going to say. "I talked to Wammy about what happened in the nursery."

Suddenly I was very thankful for the darkness of the room. I didn't want to be reminded of what happened in the nursery, honestly I was very embarrassed by what I'd done: throwing things, screaming at L when all he was trying to do was help. He had literally needed to hold me down so I would stop. I'm pretty sure I'd hit him at one point, but he was adamant that I hadn't so I was inclined to believe him if for nothing more than my own sanity. My hand fell from his cheek to his neck before finally falling to its original place on the bed in the hallow place between us. "What did he say?" I asked when it was apparent L was hesitating in continuing on.

"He thinks it's best if we keep an eye on you for a little bit. We want to make sure you're okay. He said, and I agree, that we shouldn't leave you alone until we're sure you're better, but… uh…" He hesitated and I knew. He didn't have to finish his sentence.

"When are you leaving?" I asked resting my forehead against his chest.

His arms tightened around my waist, "I didn't say I was leaving you." He sounded so convincing.

I sighed to myself, "You didn't have to say it. I just want to know when." I wasn't going to throw a fit this time. I was going to let him go.

"I'm not sure." He answered finally, resting his chin on the top of my head.

"But you have a case lined up." I stated.

He pulled away to meet my eye, "I have three I'm looking into. I haven't decided which one to take yet. There is one I'm leaning toward though. I need you to agree to it though."

I frowned. "I don't understand."

L had always told me what cases he was taken, he'd never asked permission. He'd never needed to, this was his job after all. No matter how much I kicked and screamed and didn't want him to leave, it was his job and he had to. "There's a case here in England that I'm thinking about taking. I've spoken to Wammy about it and he thinks it would be a good idea for you to work it with me."

I sat up and he did the same, flipping on the bedside lamp as he did. "What?"

"I want you to come work the case with me." He repeated seriously.

I shook my head, "L, we talked about this literally less than 24 hours ago. I can't."

L rolled his eyes before looking to me, "Anna, come on. You have to. It'll be good for you." I looked up at L from under my lashes. I wanted to go, but I couldn't just drop everything. "Anna, look at me." I did as he asked. He was smiling ever so slightly, "You need to get away from the house for a while. You haven't been in the living room in over a month because it reminds you of Beyond. You have to force yourself to go into Near's room. You're working so hard to take care of everyone. Let me take care of you for a little bit. We won't be far. We'll be just over an hour away by car. If we have to come back we will. Wammy is willing to stay and take care of Gia for a little bit until we solve this case and take care of you. Come on." I looked him over for a moment before nodding. His arms enveloped me in a tight embrace, crushing me to his chest. Once he released me, he turned and shut off the lamp before pulling me down on top of him. "We'll talk more about this tomorrow. Good night, Anna."

"Good night, L." I whispered into the dark as we laid together, letting the rhythm of his heartbeat lull me to sleep.

L's POV
I watched Anna putting away clothes in the closet. I'd just finished putting up the monitors I was going to be using during the investigation and had come to check up on her. She seemed to be lost in thought as she picked up the folded clothes from the suitcase and separated them in the closet so her things were on the right and mine on the left, just like they always were. I tugged at my sleeve. This was a stupid idea, but Wammy was encouraging it so it was worth a try. I pulled out the iPod Matt had given me before we left. There was one song on it. I took a deep breath before pressing play.

Anna jumped a little at the sudden music. She spun around to face me, her hand clasped over her heart. "L, you scared the hell out of me. What are you wearing?"

I tugged on the sleeve again, "A suit." This was so uncomfortable.

"Why are you wearing a suit?" She asked sounding torn between being very concerned for my mental health and being amused.

"Will you dance with me?" I mumbled shoving my hands into my pockets.

She took a step closer, "What?"

"I asked if you would dance with me." I said a little louder. This was so embarrassing.

Confusion broke out across her face. "Why?"

"Please stop asking questions and just do it." I groaned. Tired of her interrogation.

She shook her head, forcing a genuine looking smile and wrapped her arms around my neck, resting her head against my chest. I placed my hands on her waist and held her close. "So are you going to tell me why you have this sudden urge to dance with me?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. You used to like dancing." I reasoned. It was true. When we were younger Anna was always dancing. Mostly with Andrew or Beyond.

"You always hated it." She reminded me.

That was also true. I would watch on occasion, but I was not going to dance with her and humiliate myself. I had never been the most graceful on my feet. "I thought it was about time I humored you."

A small chuckled escaped her lips. "What's so funny?" I asked looking down at her.

"Nothing." She answered looking up at me.

"No tell me." I pushed, holding Anna a little tighter so she couldn't get away.

"I was just thinking." She replied looking at our feet and starting to pull away.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her back, placing my free hand at her waist, "You're not allowed to leave yet. You have to wait until the song ends." I reminded her. Her free hand fell to my shoulder, eventually to the back of my neck as she pressed herself against me in an attempt to hide her face. "So what were you thinking about?" I asked. She was always so sad lately. I had to make sure she was alright.

"You'll make fun of me." She decided.

I held her a little tighter to my chest, "Anna, I'm in a suit dancing with you in the bedroom of our hotel suite. I don't think I have I'll be making fun of you." She cleared her throat and mumbled something under her breath. "I didn't catch that." I glanced down at her.

She sighed, "You smile a lot." She sounded surprised.

I looked down and caught her eye, "I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with that."

She shook her head, "I'm sure they would, but you do. You just smile with your eyes. It doesn't reach your lips." She looked down, hiding an obvious blush.

"Well, lately your smile doesn't reach your eyes." I retorted, unintentionally sounding a bit bitter. I spun her twice before bringing her back to me.

"People always said we balanced one another." She sounded almost sad.

I took my hand from hers and wrapped my arms around her waist, crushing her to me. "I don't want to balance you out like that, Anna. I want you to be happy."

She looked up at me, one arm crushed between her and my chest and the other around my shoulder, her hand pressed delicately against the back of my neck. "I am happy."

"You don't seem happy." I retorted.

Her eyes held their gaze with mine for once in the past month. "It's hard to be happy lately." I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes.

I brought her lips to mine swiftly, hoping to prevent them from falling to no avail. I whipped them away with my thumbs, "Anna, just tell me how to fix you and I'll make it happen." I promised. I just wanted the tears to stop. I wanted her to be loud and lively and frustrating. I missed the girl who would start to push me over the brink into insanity just to pull me back at the last second because she could. I missed the banter and fighting over stupid things.

Anna's forehead fell to my chest as she attempted to steady her breathing. "L, I don't want you to fix me." She sounded like she was on the brink of hysteria and I desperately wanted to pull her back, "I just want you to be here while I figure out how to fix myself. Can you do that?" She asked. The music had ended and we were now standing in a suffocating silence. After a moment, I nodded. She nodded back, "Thank you." I smiled and she forced one, but both dropped when we heard it.

The sound of a door being slammed open from the other room. She pushed away from me and reached into a bag in the closet. She grabbed something from it and tossing the bag to me in one swift motion. I glanced at the object in her hands: A small pistol. I reached into the bag and grabbed one almost identical and shot her a confused look. When did she start bringing a small arsenal on cases? She moved to one side of the door and looked to me, "L, get down. Now."