I stared out the window of the kitchen, my thoughts wandering to nowhere as I waited for my friend to arrive. I had been dismissed early from work by Aizawa, likely because I'd had little to no work to do anyhow. Actually, I wasn't much thinking about the fact I'd be seeing Sam soon as I probably should have. Nah, I was currently thinking about BB. Light would be meeting him again tomorrow, wouldn't he? I wondered idly if anything significant would happen.

Hearing the door open snapped me from my zoning out, but I did not remove my gaze from the window. I could hear Sam's footsteps as she walked through the living room and into the kitchen, and I could see her sit down across from me in my peripheral vision. "Hi, Sam," I greeted.

"Hey."

I looked at her at last, and grinned. "Long time no see, huh? You've been with L all this time, eh?"

"Yeah, well…." She shrugged then frowned, crossing her arms and pouting. "I miss you. We need to see each other more."

"We do," I agreed. Yeah, before we won't be able to see each other at all…. Someone has to win this battle. I inwardly sighed, but kept that smile on my face. "Maybe we can start having you two over on Sundays again."

"With Light?" Sam asked, and grimaced. "But I don't feel like hanging out with that douche-canoe…."

Beneath the table, my hand subconsciously twisted the ring on my ring finger. Soon she wouldn't be able to avoid hanging out with that 'douche-canoe' when she came here.

…Wait.

I scoffed. "What did you just call him?"

"A douche-canoe. Problem?"

I only laughed. "That doesn't even make sense, Sam."

"Yeah, well, that's what he is." Sam leaned her head on her hand, allowing it to cradle her cheek. "I still don't like him, you know."

"I can tell," I responded, quirking an eyebrow. "You know he's coming over later tonight, too, right?"

"What?" she cried, then let out a wail. "Fine; fine…. I guess he can spend time with his lover."

I scoffed at that. "Knowing the incidents that have happened between you and L, I'd say you two are more of lovers than we are."

"What the hell are you implying?" she frowned at me, turning pink.

I raised my eyebrows at her and said flatly, "I'm not reiterating it, Samsam."

Sam scowled. "Oh, you shut your face." I just laughed again at that. "So, um," she said, "how's Anna?"

"Anna's doing great," I beamed, actually feeling a bit of the smile there. There was something about Sam and Sierra and Anna that still brought a little warmth to my chilled chest. It was the same when it came to Sachiko and Sayu. "I haven't heard from Sierra, though…."

"Oh," Sam responded, looking out the window. "That's too bad…. Sucks that she's with Mello. That asshat."

I cocked an eyebrow. "And now Mello's an asshat?"

"I just really hate him. Really, really hate him. A lot. Not as much as I hate Claude, though. I hate him most."

I laughed at the memory of her ongoing hatred for the bastard butler, Claude Faustus. It had been awhile since we talked about something like Black Butler. "When was the last time we talked about Claude, anyway?" I asked her amusedly.

Sam merely shrugged. "When was the last time I brought up Seiji's douche-canoe tendencies? I don't know."

"Now we're bringing up Durarara characters? Where'd that come from?" I laughed slightly.

"I dunno, but Izaya was a douche too."

"That didn't stop you from liking him."

"I know."

I laughed again.

She looked at me oddly. "Why are you laughing?" she asked.

There was a fleeting moment where I was afraid I couldn't answer. After all, I was coming to laugh on auto-pilot, where I felt it was right…. Not where I actually felt it. Then it was gone. "Just… you," I responded, waving her off.

Sam looked at the window again. "Oh."

I smiled at her even though she wasn't looking any more, and I gazed at her, almost wistful. Even through this we'd be friends, right? Even after? I eyed her hand. Then, I blinked and looked again. "Sam…" I said slowly and seriously, "…what's that on your hand?"

Sam looked back at me, then lifted her head from her hand and looked at it. She was going pink. "Oh…. Um…." Her tone turned nonchalant, as if she could get away with this being a casual thing. "…I got married."

I stared at her, mouth slightly agape in disbelief. Then I was standing and slamming my hands on the table. "What?!" I yelped. "You got married and you didn't tell your best friend?!" A wave of anger rolled over me. I wasn't keeping secrets; not like that. Was she really detaching herself from me? How much of friends were we now?

"I'm sorryyy!" she wailed. "L didn't want anyone to know, and neither did I, so…."

"Not even me? Sam!"

She wailed an apology again, and I huffed. By now the anger had completely dissipated, but I naturally continued acting the same. Because it seemed right.

"What, so you can tell me you slept with him, but not that you got married?" I asked her dully.

"Wha—Natalie, that's not faiirrr…."

"It is most certainly fair!" I retorted. "Not telling me you're getting married…." I scoffed.

"Well… now you know." She smiled weakly.

I rolled my eyes and sat back down, crossing my arms on the table. "How long have you been married without my knowing, hmm?"

"It hasn't even been a month; jeez, Natalie," she muttered. "It happened on the tenth."

I closed my eyes and nodded. It was the twenty-sixth, so she got married just over two weeks ago. "Okay." I opened my eyes, then, and beamed. "That's wonderful, Samsam!"

"Natalie, you don't make sense," she said dully, brushing her hair to the side with her hand. She looked at me, her eyes focused on something. "Hey…. Is that…?"

I realized what she was looking at easily; she'd probably spotted my engagement ring. "See, now I'll feel idiotic," I told her, and she shoved her fists into her cheeks excitedly.

"Is that really—? So I see that?"

"What?" I asked, then raised my left hand. "This?"

"Waiit!" Sam cried. "Hypocrite; doesn't that mean you're married too?!"

"No, dipstick, this is an engagement ring! He only proposed last night, because I actually care to tell my best friend these things!"

"I said I was sorry!" she cried.

I laughed.

"Now what's so funny?!"

"You know I'm not actually that mad, right?"

"Wh—No, I didn't! Nataliiiiie…," she whined, and I laughed again, just as Anna came bursting in the door.

"Aunt Natalie; you're home?" she asked blankly. "Sam, you're here too!" Then she saw how flustered Sam was as well as my grinning face. She blinked. "What'd I miss?"

"What'd we miss, more like," I said, then jerked my thumb at Sam. "Sam and L got married!"

Sam would be glaring at me a lot the next few hours. It was nice to have things seem normal.

Anna was giddy upon entry into SPK headquarters the next morning, a bag hanging on either arm. She was practically skipping into the sophisticated atmosphere that was her HQ. "Happy birthday, Near!" was her enthusiastic salutation.

Near actually looked at her this morning rather than giving his not-even-a-glance greeting of, "Good morning, Anna." No; today he actually looked up at her and blinked with what seemed to be bemusement.

Anna stopped skipping forward and blinked back at him, smile fading. "What? Do you not like your birthday?"

Rester and Halle had both turned to the sheep now. (Gevanni was, of course, out stalking Light, as was his job.) "How did you know it's his birthday?" Halle asked her.

"I'm from another world, remember?" Anna answered obviously. "Duh!"

"Right…," Halle said, frowning slightly. "Sorry, that was a dumb question."

Near looked away and twirled his hair. "I didn't even know for sure it was my birthday…," he said in a mumbling tone.

"What?" Anna cried. "Why not?"

"Well… they could only give estimates of when I was born when I was taken into my first orphanage."

Anna blinked at him again. "First?"

"That was my home until I was one and a half. Then Wammy's was my home."

"Oh," she responded, understanding.

"To be honest, I wouldn't have celebrated it anyway…."

"Why not?" Anna yelped.

Near shrugged. "I don't find it necessary. Not many children celebrate their birthdays at Wammy's House, either, you see…."

Anna looked at him. Right, and he didn't really have anyone to celebrate with, either, did he? She frowned. "Well, we're celebrating it now!"

He just looked at her.

"Don't make him too uncomfortable…," said Rester, and Anna rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm not trying to make him uncomfortable, I'm trying to make him happy."

Halle put the back of her hand to her mouth and laughed slightly.

"I'd like to see him smile, that's all," she said, and looked back at Near again. "Okay, so, here's your present!" she said brightly, and handed him one of the bags.

Near stared at it blankly while Anna wrapped her legs beneath her and knelt-sat on the floor. It looked like he didn't even know what to do with the thing.

"Go on," said Anna. "Open it." She was smiling wide, anticipating the moment he opened it to see what she'd got him.

"I'm actually curious…," said Halle. Rester nodded.

Near hesitantly pulled the bag closer to him, then slowly opened the bag and pulled out a simple cardboard box. He seemed very tentative with every action as he continued opening the gift. A tab was pulled out from a slit in the cardboard, and he opened its top to find a remote, a packet, and thousands of pieces of something.

"What is it?" asked Halle.

Near lifted the packet from the box and looked at it.

"It's a remote-control helicopter that you build yourself," Anna beamed. "Do you like it?"

Near gazed at the gift with an almost bemused expression before he spoke. "I do," he said.

She got a little worried, though. It seemed like he might not. "Do you really?" she asked hopefully.

He looked away from the box and to her. "I really do," he said. "I just am not sure how to respond."

Anna furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"This… is my first gift; that's all." He paged through the packet as he spoke.

Her jaw dropped.

"That actually kinda makes sense…" said Halle, rubbing the back of her head, "…not knowing his actual birthday and all, plus being an orphan…."

"That's terrible!" Anna cried. "Good lord. No presents? That's just—just—oh my gosh!"

Near blinked at her, and Halle smiled slightly. "I don't really mind," he said.

Anna drew her lips into a thin line and tried to imagine life without presents. She came up with nothing, and the idea just made her upset.

"…But I really do like it, Anna. Thank you," he said, and Anna looked at him again.

She beamed. "Yay!" She yelped, and pounced on him in a hug. The poor boy fell right over.

"Ah—Anna…. Please get off of me…."

She squeezed him before getting off. "Sorry." She figured she could be allowed to do that just this once, since it was his birthday. Near sat back up and twirled his hair, looking slightly irate.

Halle was laughing slightly. "Are…you alright, Near?" asked Rester.

"I'm fine, Rester," Near responded.

"And then in this bag," said Anna as she opened it up, "I have food! I brought some stuff you might like. It was hard figuring it out, 'cause you never really eat in front of me – or at all – so if you don't like something you don't have to eat it. Here's some watermelon," she said, and pulled out a plastic container, and pulled out containers of each thing she mentioned. "And here's some strawberries, which I actually don't like very much; then here's some chocolate bars – Aunt Natalie says you like that too, even though it's not as much as Mello. Then this is some strawberry shortcake with the strawberry stuff on the side plus some whipped cream – it's the extra that Aunt Natalie made for when she went to Light's mom's house; I guess I should call her Grandma now. Then Sayu's my aunt too; how weird. Well, the extra Aunt Natalie made was supposed to be mine, but I wanted to share it, especially since it's your birthday and all. Then here's some sour candies; oh, and some sweet candies. I've been saving them. And… oh! I brought Ramuné! Other than that…" – she flattened the canvas bag to the ground – "…that's it." And she beamed.

Near was staring at her again before he mumbled another thank you while averting his gaze and twirling his hair. Anna merely grinned. He really didn't know how to respond, did he? Oh well. She was sure today was going to be a fun day.

Fun Fact: I have an ordered list of all of the birthdays that matter to me - both of real people and of characters I like. =7= Ehe..

Review? For Near's birthday? Or the term 'douche-canoe'-