Nate knew that he would return to the park in favor of the girl. Unlike their first adventure to it, they were not encircled in the falling cherry blossoms that the early spring gifted to the land. The antithesis season befell them instead, and in that, the fiery hues of cadmium, crimson, and champagne. For it being late October, it was an idiosyncratically warm week. In more regular appearances, the young genius was still in his trademarked pajamas. The girl's reliably unpredictable wardrobe allowed her to adorn a simple black dress and grey sweater; the rosary was also hanging from her neck. She hadn't taken it off since obtaining it, and it marked nearly twelve months to the day since then.

"I think I got you to like the farmer's market. I'm proud." She grinned, holding his wrist.

"This is a festival, actually, dedicated to the Fuji hybrids."

"Well, there aren't any rides, games, or music. Only apple farmers and cider vendors. How about the farmer's apple market?"

He didn't agree, but he allowed it. They had their haul of three bushels of Fuji apples and a few jars of hard apple cider. The same breed was available for purchase back in the spring, but only because it had an incredible shelf life when refrigerated well. The massive load of fruit was pulled in a wagon with the girl's uncanny strength. The two had only three blocks left until they would be back at their home, so Nate offered to pull for her. She gave him the handle and stepped aside. The young man walked forward for only a moment before shame consumed him. The girl giggled.

"It's not funny," he defended, growing red.

The wagon remained stationary, even as he pulled. He didn't get much more chance to improve his stance before she repossessed control of it. The rest of the walk home was not permeated by voices but complimented by the gentler traffic of the twilight hours. As soon as they were home, they entered the elevator and reached their floor. Nate still looked down, silent.

"Stop pouting." She rubbed his hand.

"I am not pouting. I promise."

"Okay." She sported a soft smile.

Halle, Stephen, and Anthony were already home, which came as no surprise to the two, considering that there wasn't much work to be done without an active case. One was soon to come, likely even tomorrow, but for the time being, it was silent.

Nate retreated to his quarters, asking the girl to take the wagon with them. She wanted to jump at the opportunity to tease him about it, but he didn't sound as sheepish in his request as he did before. They went down the somewhat new corridor path through the cards. His office was still in the center but was much more spacious yet less streamlined with the odd and contorting entrance way. The girl left the wagon in the middle of his office. Nate turned to her.

"Take a shower, please."

"Are you implying I stink?" She asked.

"No, I just need to be alone for a few minutes."

"Hey, I know it'll take endless prying, but you can talk to me. What's wrong?"

"As I said before, I promise I'm fine."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No."

She decided to trust him and left for the bathroom. Thinking of his tone, she concluded that the more time he had alone, the better. A bath was her personal treat, so she conjured bubbles, candles, salts, petals, and a few oils. Another little incentive was her naked body. Like any other person, she spent her initial youth discontent in her won skin for virtually every reason: shape, skin tone, texture, proportions, hair, and anything else one would think of. She guessed that she lost the concept of body shame and shallow insecurity. It was absolutely freeing, even if it took almost two years.

Thirty minutes transpired in her lavender luxury before she was uncomfortable. All of her candles extinguished as the water inexplicably became cold.

"What the Hell?!"

Trying not to dwell on the strange occurrence, she drained the tub, dried herself and dressed in a pair of cozy pajamas that may or may not have been taken from Nate's stock.

She assumed that he would be in the center of his room, but she found both the area and the apple cart vacant. Admittedly, she had no reason or scenario come to mind. She did find him, however, in their alcove, located in the northeast corner. The area was larger and much more like a functional bedroom. Nate sat bed, holding a photograph and looking at it.

"The apples... Care to explain?"

"I used them."

"You- we just bought them today! Where did they all go?"

"I'm sorry," he offered, never glancing at her.

"Are you ready to start being honest with me?"

He nodded once. The girl sat on the bed with him, resting on his shoulder and cupping his free hand. She could feel that he was elsewhere in his mind and terribly upset, even if he only expressed plain face. By know, she knew the subtle signs of his feelings, despite how vague her assumptions were. Still, he hadn't wronged him before in that regard. She saw the picture he held.

"Who's he?"

He couldn't say anything.

"Alright, here's my ill-advised idea," she grabbed the jar of cider she took from the wagon and left at the foot of the bed, "Maybe this will loosen you up."

"You know I don't condone substance abuse."

"This substance use, not abuse. Besides, detective, how can you say so without trying it for yourself?"

His attention finally diverted from the picture and went to her. Her sweet eyes shined without malice as she took a generous sip. She made a bit of a face but killed it soon.

"Wow. That's like shine cider. Now that's a nod to American Prohibition-style strong drink. Still pretty sweet and tasty, though."

She didn't gesture it to him again, but he took the jar from her hand and looked at it like a scientist would a beaker of their latest solution. She advised him to take a giant blind swig and swallow fast. He listened, and in no time began a coughing fit. She laughed as she patted his back.

"You're becoming a man, I'm proud."

He let out another cough, "How long before I am inebriated?"

"Well, that was a nice drink, but that won't even give you a buzz. Hold on."

She grabbed the bottle back. Taking a deep breath, she chugged like a champion until the jar was half empty. She let out a slightly pained yell so she could dispell the burn. After she stopped she handed the jar to him, and he could only stare in shock.

"Drink that and you just might sing."

Tentatively, he took it back but waited to take another drink.

"Who's in the picture?"

"Someone I knew years ago. I've known him since we were children."

It wasn't hard for her to assume that the boy in the picture was deceased. Nate never mentioned to her anything about his family or friends, so it lead her to believe he did not have any, and she was ultimately correct. With ambiguity coloring his past, she could only ever wonder what his life had been like.

"Why did you accept this job?" He asked before she could speak.

She breathed, "At first, I really had no other choice. I was almost out of money after not working, and I was homeless. I showered at the gym I had a membership to and slept in my car where the cops wouldn't bother me. I wasn't with the best crowd, either. They weren't bad, but they were bringing me down with them. Still, they did teach me a few things, like how to drive, how not to get caught doing petty crime. I didn't do it, but they did. I told them that one day it would catch up to them, and when their names were leaked... Well, I'm pretty sure "L" knows the rest. All I know is that... he... was dead and gone. I never could decide whether or not it gave me closure. But, if it's worth anything, thank you for solving that case, whatever you did." She looked at her boss.

He didn't say anything to her. In more of a robust move, he took another labored sip. She intended to apologize for rambling until he said:

"I didn't solve the case. Not single-handedly."

"Hm?"

"The person in this picture was someone who went to an orphanage for gifted children with me. He was one of the smartest people I have ever known, but he was also a fool.... Like me. His breakthrough with the case helped me to solve the case, but his methods eventually cost him his life."

Though he talked about him as a complex character, she did not hear him refer to the late male as his friend. That, along with the new information that he was from an orphanage, confirmed her hypothesis: no family or friends.

Well, she omitted Halle, Stephen, Anthony and herself.

"Do you ever regret working for me?"

"Actually, through everything, no. You're the most fulfilling and satisfying irritation I've ever had. I have to ask, what did you do with the apples?

"I paid your life insurance."

She shot him a mortified expression. Why would he have a life insurance policy for her? There was nobody who would collect it, he wouldn't need the money, and most morbid to her, was he counting on her to die?

"I'm confused. Why do I have life insurance?"

"Because I don't want to lose you."

"Wow, you are getting buzzed."

"I'll admit," he hiccuped, "to some... foreign feelings, but that's not it."

He put the jar on the nightstand.

"Also, the person I mentioned... That was his rosary."

She held the crucifix in his hand and looked at it. To think that not only did she inherit it from the dead, she was also entrusted with it by the mournful living.

"I... I don't know what to say... My name is ______."

"I always knew that."

"I know, but I never told you."

"My name is Near to some, L to the world."

"What is it to me?"

"Nate."

She giggled, thankful for the release of tension in the atmosphere. He did look a lot like a Nate in hindsight, but she never thought to consider it. She thought it was adorable, almost as much as his blush.

"I don't fear death, but I know you know that. I want to know if you do."

"I can't say I ever inherently was, but I've made contracts with death, so I also can't say I will."

"What the Hell?!" The girl screamed from the bathroom.

"Good to see you again, Near."

"And you, Ryuk."

The winged flattery of the Reaper fixated his perpetual smile upon the young man's stoic face. Nate sat on the floor, hunched over and legs askew. Ryuk found the prodigy no different than the previous meeting. He looked around a bit as he hovered, already digging into the bountiful fruit supply

"Huh, I see you redecorated again?"

"Old patterns are comfortable, but stagnation is deadly. "

The seraphic antithesis of a creature glanced about the area, ceasing after he saw a pile of her clothing in a nearby hamper.

"Awe, I almost forgot about your little girlfriend, even though she's the reason we're here."

The young man said nothing to him.

"Gotta admit, I like how you told the others that you destroyed the Death Note. That's a move that Light would have made."

"I cheat," he admitted, "and so do you."

"What do you expect me to do? Kill myself for a single haul of apples to save your girlfriend's lifespan? Get real."

"I assumed that you would find a loophole, or outsmart another into doing your bidding. If you don't mind my curiosity, how did you do it? "

He hovered a bit closer to the young detective, staring at the time he had left in this world.

Ryuk figured the biannual offering of apples for the remained of the detective's lifespan was worth his effort. A Shinigami he knew, Kyojin, wasn't the brightest or most motivated individual, and in that, never bothered to learn more than the fundamental rules of the Death Note. After an offering of a single crate of the fruit, Ryuk had the god date the girl's death when he was well into her old age. The reprecussions only occured the day the girl miraculously avoided getting shot in the alley.

But, to Nate, he stated: "I have my ways. It was worth your effort."

"A spring and autumn harvest is fair enough. I also don't see myself in the position fall back on my promises."

Ryuk laughed, "You really are smart, Near, but not nearly as interesting as some other humans. Even like her. See you next spring."

The god flew away with great force that only Nate could feel. When the spiritual wind subsided, he went to temporarily place his Death Note in a secret compartment in his nightstand drawer, but as he did that, the picture of Mello fell out. He picked it up while pushing the drawer closed, and soon found himself distracted.

"The apples... Care to explain?"

And somehow, the detective dwindled it into delicious ambiguity;

"Of everything I've ever encountered and known, I've mad three certainties, one of them being that there are forces and powers above mankind, and we shouldn't be as condescending about our power over the world. I do struggle with that at times."

"So you believe in a God? Or collective energy?"

"Both, I guess. I believe there are more than one, maybe even a hierarchy. I can never be sure. But there's something else."

She had little left to admit.

"Nate, you're the best person I know. It doesn't matter where we go. If I'm around you, I feel like I'm home."

He braced himself, then drank the largest mouthful he could.

"I don't mean to come off as indifferent. I'm sorry."

She held his face, cupping it with one hand.

"In such a still face, I have never seen such beauty and expression."

His silence said everything.

"What else are you certain about?"

"Alone, I am great; alone, I am not the best."

He took a final sip before placing the jar down.

"And, I would like it very much if you were to stay with me so I wouldn't be alone."

The girl wept without a sound.

"It's your turn." He said.

Words didn't fail her; she failed her own vocabulary in favor of leaning close to him and pressing a delicate kiss upon his still lips. Easily, his eyes were the widest they had been in a very long time. Every instinct programmed him to gasp and jolt, but he remained perfectly stationary until she pulled back, blushing nearly as much as he was.

"Nate... I really want to do something, but only if you're okay with it."

She kissed him again, maintaining the sweetness and innocence of the first one. His full attention was to her. The girl smiled, then moved so that she sat just over his lap and hugged him. He had a strong understanding of where she was leading. He never nurtured the carnal desires of his person, and thus, they were nonexistent. But she was too genuine for him to stop. At this point, he assumed that she would lead them.

"I love you." She said.

His decency remained as she shed any articles she had been wearing. Proper and strategic placement of kisses and touches more or less coached their bodies into compatibility. When the barrier had first been broken, she hid her face in the crook of his neck as he held her closer, breathing a bit heavily. Their naive intensity continued until they finished their intimacy in a tender embrace that they had started with.

They laid together, and for the first time, Nate had been at her backside while holding her. The comforter encompassed their image, but the warmth was from one another.