Hello! The date is February 7, of 2009! I have decided to do something that I haven't done before, and that is to go back and rewrite all my author's notes in my stories! Sort of like a reminiscence back into the story. I've also taken this time to make changes to German translations (that were really bad), and I took the German and Japanese subtitles off the chapters. I don't know why I ever bothered translating the title in Japanese, because -with 'Obsession'- half the titles were atrociously incorrect. I have a German friend who is correcting the titles for my latest FF, but I didn't want to trouble her with 30-something words that wouldn't matter anyway.

I kind of feel like a Mangaka, the way they'll go back and comment on previous series, or make their own art books and look back at their old work. Ahaha, I feel kind of ancient. This was my second story, and I'm about to publish my fifth soon.

This FF is the sequel to 'Obsession', which pains me every time I read it. 'Obsession' was just a really bad story, in my opinion. My Death Note debut, but not well-written. But people seemed to like this story. I got 135 reviews by the time it was finished. The chapters in here are really short. For people reading now, I'd like to request that if you favourite this story or add it to alerts, please at least leave a review. As an author, it's very irritating to get favs and alerts from people who don't even bother to give their opinion of the story. One liner reviews do not please me.

Chapter 1

"Return"

"If there was ever anything I didn't want to do, Matt, this is it."

Matt gave Mello's hand an encouraging squeeze as they stood on the front porch. "Don't worry, I'll be with you," he whispered.

Mello returned the squeeze and took a deep breath, ringing the doorbell. This is it.... I haven't seen my parents in a year. They're going to be so angry. How can I face them like this? He let go of Matt's hand as the door opened, and a young maid stepped out. "Yes, can I help you?" she asked in German.

"Um...I'm looking for my parents – they live here," Mello said nervously, wondering if he was as pale as he felt.

"Oh, I didn't know they had a son," the maid said, looking surprised. "Come in." She ushered them inside, and led them to a side room that Mello remembered to be the kitchen. "Your father will be right down." And the maid disappeared upstairs.

"Maybe we shouldn't have come..." Mello wondered out loud, wringing his hands in his lap.

"No, it's the right thing. We both need to face what we ran away from, Mello."

Mello was silent, still mentally debating whether to turn and go back out of the house.

They could hear footsteps on the stairs, and Mello held his breath when he heard the door open and a broad-shouldered man walked inside; Mello couldn't bring himself to look at him, maybe because of shame or fear, he didn't know.

His father's facial expression didn't change as he looked from one boy to the other. "Well? Are you going to give me an explanation?" he asked gruffly.

"W-well, we..." Mello began. "I mean, I...I'm back."

"That much is obvious," his father replied snappishly. "Aren't you going to explain precisely where you went for a year without a word to anyone?"

Mello cringed at the sharp voice filling the room. "I...I'm sorry, father," he said. "It was wrong of me to run away." He hung his head and concentrated on the floor. "It won't happen again."

"Damn right it will not. Do you have any idea how worried we were when you disappeared? How completely irresponsible of you!"

"Yes, father...." Mello took a steady breath. "Do you think...I could speak to mother now?"

There was a silence, and he could tell that his question had made his father uneasy. "Mihael, your mother..." he paused. "She's dead."

Mello could feel himself go numb. "Wh-what?" This time he looked up at his father with wide, open eyes.

His father was looking away from him, now. "I'm sorry. She died in childbirth, a few months after you left."

Speechless, Mello simply sat, dumbstruck, in his seat for a minute. Matt reached over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Mello angrily slapped it away, standing up from his chair. "Show me," he said. "The baby."

Hesitantly, his father nodded and turned towards the stairwell. The three of them walked in silence, until they reached a room at the end of the hall. Mello's father opened it and they looked around at the interior: pink. It was a girl.

Mello reached the crib before his father, and looked inside; the infant was sleeping soundly under a thin cotton blanket, it's tiny hands curled up into fists as it dreamed. It looked healthy enough, but hardly any bigger than a young rabbit.

I've never been around infants much...all I know is they cry a lot. And this...this is what killed my mother? I...I almost feel the impulse to hurt it.

As if reading Mello's strangled thoughts, Matt squeezed the other boy's shoulder, enough to bring him back to earth.

"What's her name?" Mello asked, his voice tight.

"Olivia," his father replied quietly.

As I expected...after my mother.

"I'm sorry," Matt whispered.

"I have to get to work," Mello's father said, his voice authoritative again. "We'll discuss this once I return." He straightened up and walked back out of the room without another word.

As soon as his father left the room, Mello threw himself into Matt's arms and sobbed.

-End of Chapter 1-

Erm...after so long, I've forgotten a lot of where my ideas came from in this story. Mello's sister doesn't play a big role in the FF, she's just...there. I named her 'Olivia' after a German friend I used to have on GaiaOnline. I couldn't think of any other German girl names at the moment...

Mello's father is the main central conflict in the story. I kind of imagine him with a constant frown, ahaha. If you've read 'Dirty Little Secret', then just sort of imagine him as a really old Emil....

The FF I'm currently writing at this time has chapters ranging from 15 pages to about 23, so these chapters in 'Secrets' seem even shorter to me than they did when I wrote them. I was really lazy while writing this story..... Ahaha.