Light Yagami was a beautiful boy. Even after being tied up, body bent backwards, deprived of sleep, and emotionally drained by the endless accusations, he was still beautiful. It was unfair, and almost ironic really, that the one person who'd undergone so much strain and mental torture would walk out of his cell looking just as fucking godlike as the day he'd been brought in.

When I came to collect him, Light's doe-eyes lit up with recognition. Confusion fogged his elation, but frankly, he looked relieved just to see another person.

"Katherine," he breathed, voice heavy with fatigue and consolation. I felt pinned by the desperation in his gaze.

"Can you stand?" I asked, hesitant to lend a hand unless he really needed it.

He strained and nodded with a wince. When he stumbled, I held his arm and felt how skinny he'd gotten over the past few weeks. Guilt began to creep in but I stomped on that beast before it grew too big.

"Is this it then? Am I cleared?"

I remembered what L had said - appear sombre and dejected but not overtly sad; it would leave room for doubt but not give too much away.

"There's a car waiting for us outside," I told him slowly, ensuring he heard and understood every word of what I was saying. "I'm going to have to ask that you don't ask any questions."

To his credit, Light kept silent as he slumped along behind me, although it was obvious he had a throng of questions teetering behind those sly lips.

Light knew how to manipulate a conversation and he knew how to read the subtlest of signals. He could ask about the weather and get you to tell him your political stance, or your favourite breed of cat, or how much you hated your mother. Anything, really. He was good like that - like L, but a lot smoother.

I'd been prepared for this though. So, whenever he tried to make conversation, no matter how innocent the topic, I shot him down.

"Light, you're smart and I don't want to be condescending, so please take the hint. I'm not going to tell you anything. When he arrives, your dad will explain things to you if you still want to know."

He latched onto my error. "My dad is coming?"

I chewed my lip. "We'll be meeting him in about a quarter hour, yes."

The small slip of information I gave him - I hoped L would forgive me, shooting an apologetic glance at the camera above my rearview mirror - seemed to ease the anxieties that were playing on his mind for he didn't speak for the rest of the car ride, meaning I had room to breathe.

Speeding along the highway, I kept my gaze fixed on the road in front of me and tried not to think about the destination. The sky was stormy, battered and bruised with an array of dark purple clouds and a grey overcast. The last few minutes of sunlight fought to shine through, speckles of shiny, bright amber reflecting off the glass panes of lavish penthouses and corporate buildings.

We drove into a multistorey parking complex, where daylight bled into shadowed fluorescence, and I drove down three floors, scanning for civilians or any occupied cars. Light noticed the change in speed and sat up curiously, analytical eyes surveying our strange surroundings. I slowed the car to a stop where I felt appropriate, stepping out of the car in the middle of the deserted floor, pulling Light along with me.

The Chief pulled up in a car minutes later. Misa Amane exited the vehicle alongside him, hands cuffed behind her back. Her face lit up like a carnival display as soon she saw Light, who's only real interest was directed at his father. The Chief, refusing to acknowledge his son, approached me and began herding the two teenagers into the car I had been driving.

Despite knowing full well it was a bluff, I still felt monstrous handing him over to Mr Yagami, seeing the outline of a *Nambu M60 weighing down his pocket. I took one last look at Light, hoping to whatever God was out there that what we were about to do wouldn't fracture that brilliant, untapped mind inside his head.

Mr Yagami and I wordlessly exchanged keys, finding each other's gaze as I recalled what we said earlier.

"He'll be fine, Mr Yagami," L said bluntly, an edge of irritation in his tone. "There are no real bullets inside the chamber, only a blank. There's no way you or Light could receive injury from this."

The man in question had his head between his knees, rubbing his cranium as he stared at the gun on the table.

"How am I supposed to hold a gun to my own son's head?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," I said, eyes hard and voice stern. "For the sake of countless more lives on the line and those who've already died."

"He'll never be able to trust me again."

I shrugged. "I can't argue with that. Chances are this will resonate with him pretty deeply for the rest of his life."

In a weird case of role reversal, L frowned at me, knowing I wasn't helping the situation. I held his gaze steely, wordlessly assuring him that I knew what I was doing.

"If we're lucky, he'll understand it was a necessary action for the case and be willing to forgive. If not, Light could develop a phobia of guns, of men, of enclosed spaces, he might never be able to sit comfortably in a car, etcetera. And he might never want to look you in the face again."

The Chief's despair morphed into rage and he opened his mouth to snap and I held up a hand to silence him.

"But," I said pointedly. "Light strikes me as the resilient type. He's selfless and forgiving and he wants so badly to bring Kira to justice, above all else. That's not due to any instinct or neurological trigger, that's due to good parenting. You're a good dad, Chief, and you're a good cop. This won't change that."

Soichiro narrowed his eyes at me, not due to anger but rather a questioning distrust.

"It's not my intention to sounds abrasive, Agent, but how would you know what makes a good parent?"

It was a valid question with an equally valid answer. I wasn't offended, yet I couldn't help but feel as though my credibility as a trained detective was being doubted once again. Funny, considering there were two orphans in the room, but I was the one always targeted. *Maybe it was sexism, who knows?

I swallowed my melancholy with a sigh.

"When you spend so much of your life on your own," I explained, "You start to fantasise about what real love looks like."

There was silence in the room. The two men looked at me with something akin to sympathy, masked by neutral expressions and averted eyes, but the blinding gleam of pity was all too easy to recognise. I chose to ignore it.

"I've wasted so much time daydreaming about the perfect parent, Mr Yagami, that I'd be shocked if I failed to recognise a good father standing before me."

After I finished speaking, the Chief stared at me for the longest time and it was hard to decipher his mood. Was he angry? Did he think I was mocking him?

I looked away, embarrassed by my childish reasoning before I realised that his arms were wrapped around me. Shaking, the man held onto me for dear life and sobbed words of thanks into my shoulder. Taken aback by the sudden display of warmth coming from a man who was usually so professional and reserved, I felt impelled to smile, my heart inexplicably touched by this father's undying love for his son.

Mr Yagami helped his son and Misa into the car before sliding into the driver's seat. He turned to look at me, a last plea for reassurance, and I sent him a firm nod. The resolve in his eyes hardened and he started the ignition, speeding off down the tunnel.

I watched them go before returning back to HQ.

Not a word was spoken as I crept into the room. Everyone was hooked on the scene unfolding. Even Matsuda surprised me by keeping two eyes trained on the screen. I slid inbetween him and Chris, recieveing a gentle nod of greeting from the latter, and tried to catch up with what was happening onscreen. I'd arrived back at HQ fairly quickly thanks to very little traffic and, although I'd clearly missed some dialogue, the climax was only just building.

"It feels good to finally be cleared," Light's voice said through the speakers.

Oh, how wrong you were, sunshine.

"I'm afraid you two are being taken to your execution," Mr Yagami said sternly. "The site was secretly built in an underground facility not too far from here. I wanted to be the one to escort you."

The two teens looked at him in disbelief, sounds of shock escaping their lips.

"L is convinced you, Light, are Kira and that Misa is the second. He believes the only way we can truly stop the murders is execute the two of you."

"I don't understand," his son stammered, thrusting forward in his seat as best as he could with bound hands. "The killings have stopped!"

"No, the killings never stopped."

Light went still, voice quiet. "Wait, he was lying?"

"He wanted a confession, he would have said anything," his father told him without an ounce of sympathy. "But it doesn't matter. The situation is political now. Officials from the UN and Japanese police force have agreed unanimously that your execution is the solution. They want Kira to disappear completely. No public trial. No press coverage."

"That's insane, dad, not to mention illegal and completely unethical! Please, can't you see? I'm not Kira!"

"L made this decision, not me," the Chief argued. "For years, he's tackled unsolvable cases and never once been wrong."

"So you'll take his word over mine? Your own son?"

The crackle of the speaker did little to mask the betrayal in Light's voice. He sounded as though somebody has punched him.

"L's gone so far as to stake his life on this. If after the execution criminals continue to die, L will also be killed."

That was a nice touch, I decided. Really made L seem like his heart was in this conviction - or that his head was so far up his own ass he failed to see how stupid it was. This might've been a bluff but I could've genuinely picture it happening.

Light seemed to agree.

"Wha— Is he insane?" he spluttered, eyes wide. "Please, dad, I need to speak to him - make him see this isn't right. The L I know would rely on hard evidence, not mere coincidence. Come on, is he really planning on ending it like this?"

"We're almost there."

The Chief made a hard turn onto the slip road, forcing the car out of its lane and onto the grassy stretch of land just below the overpass. The camera shook and bounced as the car wobbled down the gradient, the image blurring until the vehicle skidded to a loud halt.

As the footage focused once more, we watched as Light surveyed the area anxiously.

"You brought us out into the middle of nowhere," he noted, fear beginning to settle in his voice.

"Mr Yagami, are you going to let us go?" Misa tried asking, her new optimistic streak shining through, almost as clearly as her naivety.

Soichiro sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt and grasping the Nambu in one hand. "I thought it would be better to bring you out here than the execution site. There's no one around to see."

Turning away from the camera, the Chief looked Light dead in the eye.

"Son, listen to me. I'm going to kill you here and then kill myself."

Even just hearing those words make me take a deep breath to stop myself from staggering. Mr Yagami's dedication to his son didn't need to be proven; he'd spent weeks in a cell, depriving himself of a clean shave, fresh air, and even a shower. It really made me think, if it came out Light was Kira earlier in the case, would the Chief had done it?

Light reeled back as though he'd been slapped. Shock and disbelief seemed to stun him into silence for he just sat back in his seat, staring wide-eyed at his father.

Beside him, Misa tearfully shouted, "You'd really kill your only son for L? You're a monster, no different than Kira!"

"I am nothing like Kira!" The Chief bellowed, genuinely insulted. "I'm bound by my responsibilities as a parent and as the Chief of the NPA."

"Dad, she's right! Think about it: if we die here, nothing will change and the truth will never be revealed. Please, dad, you have to let us go!"

The growing panic was prominent in his desperate, rambling plea. His shoulders were hunched and shook with every breath; adrenaline was kicking in, but Light had no way out, no way in which he could flee or fight.

Kira did though, and that's what we were waiting on.

"It doesn't matter now. It's too late. Either way you'll be executed. At least with this, I'll be the one to do it."

Mr Yagami placed the barrel between Light's eyes, hand eerily steady for a man in his position.

Light tugged at his restraints with a renewed sense of panic, fear reaching a climax as he finally realised the level of danger he was in.

"For God's sake, dad, I'm not Kira! If I die, Kira wins. Can't you see?"

He sounded earnest, genuinely convinced this was a set up and that he was being framed. It was so different from any other performance he'd played for us so far.

It might've been down to the gun prodding against his temple, but still...

"Amane, I'm going to die here with my son but I have no reason to kill you. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

From the shit-scared look on her face, the Chief's words were crystal clear.

"The police will locate this car eventually and you will be taken to the original execution site as planned," Mr Yagami elaborated and the young actress began to wail.

Her screams and Light's protestations merged into one senseless plea, one last violent appeal for mercy, as the pair begged for their lives. Deaf to their cries, Soichiro clicked off the safety and his finger danced upon the trigger.

"Light," he said, the word heavy in his mouth. "From one murderer to another, I'll see you in Hell."

Misa's screams reached a piercing crescendo and the blank was fired.

A loud bang crackled through the speakers; some of the men jumped and even I sucked in a gasp. We watched the screen with unmitigated attention. The blank had been fired. Light would have been dead, had that been real. By all rights, if he was Kira, in accordance with L's hypothesis, Mr Yagami should have keeled over by now.

Did that mean he wasn't Kira?

"Oh, fuck, man." I heard Chris mumble. "I know it's fake but my heart is in my throat."

"Tell me about it, this is some heavy stuff," Matsuda whispered in agreement.

From the front of the room, Aizawa shushed them as L switched on the microphone.

"That was a very convincing performance, Mr Yagami. Well done. If Miss. Amane were the second Kira - who needs only a face to kill - there is no doubt she would've killed you before you had the chance to fire your weapon.

"And if Light were in fact Kira, the Kira I know wouldn't hesitate to kill his own father if his life was indeed on the line."

Oh, I thought. That sounded like admission. Was this it? Was this the end of his obsessive, oppressive, Big Brother-esque escapades?

"Though, with Light in particular, I cannot rule out that he might've seen through our act..." L trailed off quietly, the implication hanging weightily in the air.

Yeah, no, I knew it was too good to be true. I can smell the grudge festering from here.

"Still, as agreed, I will end their confinements immediately."

There was a collective sigh of relief.

"As we discussed," he continued, "Miss. Amane will remain under surveillance until Kira is apprehended. Although she claims the videos we found were just 'occult videos', the physical evidence we have, plus her confession, suggest otherwise."

Offended, Misa gasped and began screeching something in protest, only to be (thankfully) shot down by Mr Yagami's scathing glare.

"As for you, Light," L began to say, and Light looked up at the camera with tired and despondent eyes which, even now, continued to gleam with alertness. "You and I will be together 24/7 and that is how we'll remain until we bring Kira to justice."

Said boy didn't look too happy about that, namely the 24/7 part, but he was in no position to refuse.

"Fine by me."

L nodded, and spoke crisply, "I look forward to working with you."

The feed cut off, as did the audio, and in the silence, we stood stunned by what had transpired.

"So he's not Kira?" Matsuda asked slowly.

I sighed, trying to crack the joints in my neck, which were painfully stiff after standing to attention for so long.

"Apparently not," I groaned.

"Maybe he called our bluff?"

Chris shook his head firmly. "Doubt it. The kid was on the verge of a panic attack. Didn't you see his face?"

I ignored the rest of the conversation and slid into the bedroom, burrowing through my cosmetics bag for some aspirin as the pain in my neck gave no indication of easing. With a grimace, I tried to rub circles along the top of my spine, but the angle made it difficult and I couldn't alleviate the tension.

After a few seconds of pointless struggle, a hand replaced mine and began applying greater force along my pressure points with pinpoint accuracy. I chuckled and relaxed back into it, letting all my muscles loosen, feeling the tension begin to wane beneath the detective's skillfull hands.

"Being chained to your suspect all hours of the day," I mused, a small grin creeping its way onto my face. "Something else off your bucket list, I imagine?"

"I find the idea of bucket lists childish."

"Of course you do."

I turned to face him, trying not to miss the feel of his skin on mine as his hands slipped from my neck. Instead, I settled into our usual routine of me raising a brow and mocking him for his exploits. His plan regarding Light was stupid - as per usual - though I couldn't really fault him for having doubts. But just because it was justified did not mean it was any less moronic.

"Won't people see it as a bit extreme to handcuff yourself to a suspect, Ryuzaki? I mean, as well as physically limiting them, you're basically depriving them of all illusion of privacy."

L threw me a look that said I don't give a fuck and I snickered softly, trying not to offend him.

"You really don't care about human rights, do you?"

"Neither does Kira."

Touché.

"Still, I can't believe you're actually going through with this," I said. "You'll be depriving yourself too, you do realise that, right? You won't be able to do anything without dragging him around on your arm like a trophy bride."

The detective's lips curled into a disgusted sneer. "I don't appreciate that imagery."

"Oh, so that gets under your skin but the thought of handcuffing yourself to a possibly homicidal teenager is absolutely fine?"

The man inclined his head. "I will admit, I am not looking forward to the indefinite amount of time I will have to spend with Light Yagami, but it is necessary to progress the case."

"No one's asking you to make a martyr of yourself, Ryuzaki," I told him. "You don't have to do this."

L looked at me with such fierce determination that it took me aback. "Yes, I do."

Shaking my head once more, I gazed at the detective with a blend of sceptical disbelief and admiration.

"God, I love it."

"What?"

"How dedicated you are to your cases. Seriously, you're so passionate about it, it's terrifying. I guarantee if you asked any other detective whether they'd handcuff themselves to a suspect, they'd laugh."

"Would you?"

"Hell no! I like my privacy," I scoffed before settling into a smirk. "Although maybe if it was Light, I wouldn't mind as much."

As expected, the wet blanket that was L could not see through my sarcasm.

"I'm joking," I said firmly, trying not to laugh at his face.

Jeez, honestly, I thought, rolling my eyes. Men are a different breed.

"So," I said, changing the subject. "With Light around, do I still get your bed or am I being demoted to the couch?"

Please don't demote me to couch. Baby got back problems.

"I'm planning to relocate headquarters to a more private residence. You will have your own room, of course; Miss. Amane and Mr Doyle too. But in the meantime, yes."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise - he hadn't mentioned new headquarters until now and I was very eager to hear more about that - but smiled gratefully. "Thanks, that's good of you."

We lapsed into silence, the conversation having reached a standstill, and with no words to say, our eyes started roaming.

He was thinking about it. I could tell. His his eyes flitted around my face, and around the bits of skin not hidden by my hoodie. Instinctively, I pulled the collar up higher, playing shy but harbouring a knowing look in my eye. Daring to take a step closer, I peeked at the skin hidden under the shell of his ear and smiled with malicious glee at the purple mark staining it.

Tentatively, though nowhere near as shyly as last night, he placed a hand on my cheek and I almost melted from the contact. My eyes were coaxed back to his and I felt my stomach twist, seeing the same heat there from before. Though, this time, there was something else present, and I desperately yearned to know what it was.

Fuck, I was going to miss him.

We didn't need it. This wasn't a relationship. There was no obligation there. And it wasn't as though we were being totally separated. We'd see each other every morning and he'd still probably be the last person I spoke to before going to bed. This new development literally made no difference to our current arrangement. I was just being a toddler.

Still, even as I told myself that, I glanced not-so-slyly at my watch and back up at the detective, seeking approval, almost pleading with him.

"They won't miss us for ten minutes, will they?" I whispered, eyes flicking towards the door.

L didn't seem surprised by my bluntness nor did he seem to hate it. Instead, he raised his chin in thought and regarded me with the same curt tone.

"I'm sure Miss. Amane will keep them adequately distracted for at least double that amount of time."

I stepped closer to him, pleased when he didn't move away as he usually might've, until we were nearly pressed against one another. I played it casual, cocking a brow up at him, trying (and failing) to hide a smile.

"Thank God for divas, right?"

We could call it a goodbye kiss.

A/N

* Did I really go out of my way to research what gun was used in the mock execution scene even though it adds literally nothing to the narrative? You bet your ass I did (shoutout to Internet Movie Firearms Database, they're doing the Lord's work)

* This is mostly my own inside joke because YES DEATH NOTE IS VERY, VERY SEXIST. Women are always presented as less intelligent (Misa), experience ridiculous lapses in judgement which makes them come off as gullible (Naomi/Takada), or are overtly sexualised (Wedy) - or all of the above! Not cool, Death Note, women are amazing

HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! Sorry I've been gone for months. I was getting quite stressed about my exams, which, (if you've been keeping up with situation in the UK, you'll know) ironically have all been cancelled and the past two academic years mean nothing anymore. I also just went through a shitty breakup - well, it was shitty on my end, at least. My ex got with someone new within a week (yeah, I know, that says it all). So writing is my therapy rn!

How are you guys liking the lovebugs? Bless them, they can't keep their hands off each other. And Agent is still so in denial about her feelings. Ugh. I love my children. I will, unwittingly, have to take a break from them because Light is going to be the ultimate cockblock for an indefinite number of chapters. Don't blame me, guys, blame the Yotsuba plotline!

Anyway guys, I hope you all had a good New Year/Christmas if you celebrated and I hope you're all keeping yourselves safe during the pandemic. Love you guys, wash your hands!