A/N; If AN's annoy you I apologise for this one, but I felt these things had to be said. Both in thanks for reading this story and some important points about the next.

So here it is. The final chapter of Constant Temptation, but as you know not the ending of the story for out characters; indeed not, for I have promised you a sequel haven't I. Anyway, this has certainly been an amazing experience for me, not only in writing it but in how it was received. I never thought anyone would ever find my story interesting enough to draw fanart... Seriously I am stunned by each and every drawing you have informed me of.... or that so many of you would actually read this story and review it as so many of you have.

So this is where I believe I should say my thanks, and so many thanks I have to give.

Special thanks must be given to both VirtualDraconium and Dotti55 for putting up with the incessant rambling and continuous focus I have had on this story. I suspect that this may continue with the sequel, and I can only apologise in advance... I hope you can forgive me.

To all my reviewers I say thank you again, I thank you every time you review as you know, but I feel I must thank you again. You do not have to review and so the face that you do so often and continue to do so even now... I don't have the words. This thanks also goes out to all the anonymous reviewers I could not thank personally; I will not list your names here as I know occasionally some of you do not wish to be named. Please know though that your comments were just as important to me as the rest.

Finally, thank you to all of you, particularly if you're still reading through this excessive AN. Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed it.

...

Now, I debated on this section, but after a couple of the reviews I received I think you need this. You have fears about certain aspects of the sequel and these need addressing and you need to know certain things if you want to find said sequel when it begins;

It has a title Instrumentalities, and this time that title does relate to the story.... but I'm not telling you how.

Many of you have expressed a continuous desire to see more of the trio and were perhaps disappointed by their lack of presence in places. Well never fear they are integral to the sequel and will get as much screen time as L and Light.

Eleanor.... Well I'm so happy you all accepted her into L and Light's family. I was worried about her reception with so little being given to you at this stage of the story. This is also where I should allay some fears. THE SEQUEL IS NOT ABOUT HER IN ANYWAY. I hope I said that clearly enough, yes she is there and has a part, but she is in no way a main player. In fact it will be quite difficult for her to be so as she will be four.

Yes, by that previous point it does mean there will be a time skip. This means the trio become adults, we get past that tricky toddler stage and it gives L and Light, Jason as well, more time to heal.

Lemons.... I'm sorry Constant Temptation lost them after Light's birthday, but then there really wasn't place for them... needless to say they will be returning in Instrumentalities for all relationships

Yes, I already have a plot for the sequel; I won't just be hashing things together in case you are wondering.

You can expect the first chapter to appear in about a week or so.

...

There I think I've rambled on for quite long enough don't you. I hope you appreciated knowing a little about the sequel and I've removed some fears.

Thank you all once again for reading.

*bows*

Please, may I ask one final time, read and review?

Dragonrider4000

Chapter 101

Light stared down at the now sleeping bundle in the cot. The day had become a hectic one filled with paperwork and questions from the hospital staff even L had found difficult to answer. The decision to adopt Eleanor had been rather abrupt. Light was beginning to wonder if it had been a good idea, he was still dealing with his trauma at the hands of Beyond, and L was not the most social of creatures. He knew though that he would not have been able to accept any other decision, he had always wanted to save those in pain or in danger before Beyond had taken him... it had been one of the reasons he had begun to use the Death Note as he had. Beyond had merely strengthened that resolve because he had been a victim too. Leaving Eleanor to cry and spend her life without the comfort Light knew the Wammy's house organisation could give... the comfort and protection he knew he and L could give her. She would grow up knowing she was adopted, it would be impossible any other way; but she would grow up knowing she was loved.

"We're doing something completely irrational aren't we," L said, and Light jumped he had not heard his partner return, "I suppose it couldn't be helped, she reminds me too much of my own past. At least she won't remember her parents."

"You remember yours?" Light whispered, startled at this sudden outpouring from L. Despite everything he knew there was a lot about L he still didn't know.

"Only a few, hazy recollections; I was 7 when they died, a car crash the same as Eleanor's... It was a freak accident. They had been out for the evening, I was home with a child minder... studying maths if I remember rightly," L said softly, and he gave a small laugh, "I was studying for an A level... one of the strongest memories I have is them telling me they were proud of me. I had won a maths competition, a national one... It's one of the reasons I don't like to lose. I remember my mother's cooking as well."

L's words stopped as he felt Light's intense gaze on him, and he realised he had never told his lover any of this before. He had never even told him about his past unless it was necessary.

"Is she why you like to eat cakes?"

It had not been the question L had been expecting and he blinked a little in surprise. He had expected Light to ask his usual barrage of questions, but then Light was still quite weak himself; he still wasn't back to his full mental strength.

"No Light," L replied, his gaze still fixed on Eleanor, "I remember my mother's cooking because it was bad."

To his great relief Light began laughing so hard he had to cover his mouth with his good hand to avoid waking Eleanor. In an instant the sudden tension that had been building as L spoke shattered. In fact even L managed to smile slightly, but his mind stayed fixed on the serious matter of the new addition to their rapidly growing family.

"Our lives are going to change completely Light," L sighed, "and I do not know what the trio will think."

"Our lives have been through great changes before," Light retorted, "This one has to be one of the more pleasant ones."

L smiled then as Light shifted to stand behind him, and he took great comfort in the feel of his partner's chest pressed against his back and Light's arms encircling him. He had thought this was something he might never experience again. Immediately that strange safety and feeling of friendship he had always had when Light was around him.

"Why are you worried about the trio?" Light asked, his head resting against L's shoulder so his voice sounded abnormally loud in his ear.

"They view us as father figures," L sighed, "They used to hold me in some high regard before all this happened, but now we have been closely associated with their lives for the past year I think that has only deepened and they have latched onto you as well."

"L, I don't think they will be jealous," Light whispered, and his voice was filled with a humour L rejoiced in, "They are very independent, and they have each other. As long as we don't neglect their company everything should be fine."

"I hope you're right," L sighed.

They continued looking down at Eleanor, both wondering just what they had got themselves into even while their confidence grew in their abilities to do this. As Wammy had said, they weren't genii for nothing. Light's attention however was broken by the occasional glances he made up to L's worried eyes; he could also feel the attention in the body he held close. He couldn't stand it, it made his own skin crawl with nerves, there was no way he could be around such tension and not get scared himself. The tension seemed too close to anger.

"What else is worrying you L?" Light managed to say, the sound of his own voice managing to diffuse some of the nerves he felt before L had even spoken.

"I have no idea where we are going to live," L replied, "With Wammy's house destroyed it is going to take some time to build a replacement. I suppose the more salient question would be; where do you want to live Light? Where do you think you'll be happy?"

"Could I at least have a shortlist?" Light said, giving a small laugh that sounded strangled as he tried not to deafen L, "The world is a big place."

"Anywhere inside the European Union would be the easiest and least time consuming to arrange," L explained, "I would give you a list of places I have there but they are almost all occupied by the orphans now. I don't know what you want with this."

"Then I will need time to think about this," Light said, with a small sigh of his own, "and where do you want to go?"

"I have never really desired to visit anywhere," L commented, "I've always gone where the cases led. It's one of the reasons I asked you."

"Somewhere warm then," Light began; his tone vague as he tried to think things through, "Neutral territory for the both of us. Lots of sun, nowhere where it stays dark for long periods of time. Not too many people around, I don't think either of us want that right now..."

"I have one house," L said suddenly, "It's only a small house, by my standards anyway. I once had a small stay in Italy and it was built during my time there to give somewhere other than the monotony of hotel changes that so annoy me, to stay."

"Italy?" Light whispered, "That could work, even if I can't speak Italian. I suspect you can though."

L merely laughed; Light knew him well, he could indeed speak Italian.

...

L's fears about the trio feeling any form of jealous were found to be quite unfounded two days later. There had been an initial moment of awkwardness as Light and L had sat there staring at the trio from next to the small cot containing Eleanor, the next the trio were gathered around Eleanor smiling down at her happily, and rather disconcertingly whispering quietly between each other apparently discussing Eleanor.

"We have a question," Mello said at last, "Which one of you is the mother?"

For a moment L and Light stared at him in absolute shock, and not some amount of growing horror. It seemed they had not thought that far, and now it was pointed out to them neither was willing to accept the title.

"Neither of us," Light managed to reply, his voice harsh and slightly strangled sounding. His eye actually twitched as the trio laughed at his reply.

...

It had taken another month and a half for the doctors to be fully convinced, not just in Light's physical recovery, but his mental one. The doctors were still not convinced that Jason was fully recovered yet, despite his words to the contrary, but they had no power to hold him any longer. They were finally allowed to leave, but such an event didn't just mean leaving the hospital... it meant leaving the country as well. They had decided it best not to linger, the mental wounds were still sore and they did not want to see how they would open in a world without a Wammy's house to hide in. So they were leaving.

Light smiled, despite his inner nervousness, as Eleanor gave a small giggle from the baby holster. Her hand reaching out to capture L's finger as he attempted to keep her still enough to attach the straps. Light tried not to laugh as L looked down at her with complete bemusement.

"I could help you with that," Light commented, as he shrugged on his jacket. He was not in a suit today, but the clothes were comfortable and that was all that mattered. In fact he wondered just how photographic L's memory was as it was the same coat Light had owned when he had lived in Japan.

"I would rather you didn't Light," L replied, his finger now free, "This is my task, just as your shoelaces were yours."

Light glared at L, but said nothing. He knew the detective was testing him with that, so despite his brain wanting to shout at L for using such a low blow, he refrained. L was allowed to test him at the moment, they both needed to know how resilient his psyche was now. It still hurt to think back on it though, without his two fingers on his right hand tying his shoe laces had been difficult indeed. He supposed it showed his recent progress that he had merely found it annoying and hadn't begun crying, or something equally embarrassing.

"While you're fighting with her," Light sighed, "I'm going to see if Jason has managed to free himself from his paperwork."

As if his words had been prophetic he opened the door to find Jason outside already waiting for him, stood by Wammy with his hands shoved in his pockets so the missing fingers were not evident to the people passing. Light knew Jason didn't like people staring at him and pitying him for his wounds, he could understand that well; people looked at the scar on his face and then at his now un-bandaged left hand only to stare at him with expressions filled with pity. Light hated them for it.

"I think we're ready," Light said with a forced smile, as there was a small sound of triumph from L behind him. It was quite amusing to hear the genius taking pride in what was such a simple task.

The five of them headed down to the waiting car below, and Light felt a sudden burst of excitement fill him at finally being able to leave the hospital permanently. He knew today was the official beginning of a fresh start for all of them. He didn't even look back as they drove away, he was too happy to be leaving to feel any nostalgia about the place.

They drove towards the airport in silence, the three healing men making the most of the opportunity to look out at the country they would soon be leaving. None of them mentioned how odd it was to feel sad about leaving even though they knew they all wanted to. Finally L managed to say what they were all hoping would be true.

"We will come back though," L whispered, "I doubt the trio would ever forgive us if we didn't."

...

Neither L nor Light could say anything as they stood in the first class lounge looking at all the people who had come to wish them goodbye. In all their worries about each other, they had once again forgotten just how large their actual extended family was. They had been so focused on all those who had died at Beyond's hands, from Misa's death in Japan to the final deaths of Rem and Nicholas, that they had forgotten just how many still lived. Aizawa and Matsuda were there, the trio, Light's family and all the Wammy's staff that were still in the country and Ryuk.

They were not given the chance to stand around for long as the trio leapt forward to pull them closer, chattering away about all the presents the two of them would find in their new home to help them settle in.

"That's enough of that," Aizawa said suddenly, shifting between the trio and L and Light. He gave the trio a glare before turning to face the still bemused couple, "You do know that you can call if there is anything you need."

"I had not expected to hear that from you," L whispered, looking up at Aizawa with an openly startled expression.

"We all offered to help you L," Aizawa sighed, and he reached out to pat a startled L on the shoulder, "Including Mogi, we knew the risks. We've been through too much together for that to have ever changed."

"You know you have our support no matter what!" Matsuda laughed, his happy voice breaking the sudden tension that was building, before he continued in a much more serious voice, "It's just not going to be the same without you here."

"I suspect we will have visiting right's wont we brother," Sayu said, and her tone was only just humourous as she and Sachiko moved slightly closer.

"As long as everyone doesn't visit at the same time," Light replied, glancing worriedly at L, "I would think so."

"I do not rate our probability for survival very high if we do not agree," L said with a small smile, "Though I must inform everyone that we have a limited amount of time to be able to leave on my plane before the airport takes us off the rota."

The next few moments were filled with goodbyes that were suddenly much harder to say than any of them would have believed possible; with even Jason being pulled into the group and being overwhelmed by everyone deciding he too was suddenly considered some part of the family too; but how could they not when he was the reason Light had been rescued. Throughout this Ryuk merely stood and watched them, smiling slightly at their exuberance, but still unable to bring himself to take part. There will still some aspects of being human he couldn't get used to.

At last though L and Light managed to break away and head towards the plane. There were no security checks for them, the staff had been told confidentially who was coming and had actually cleared the corridors for them; Never had Light seen an airport without people, but yet for them it was. As before they moved in silence, Eleanor now in Wammy's hands, Jason stood by him looking slightly nervous while L and Light walked ahead.

"We are doing the right thing moving away from everyone, aren't we?" Light asked just before he took the final step that would take him into the plane, "It wouldn't be better to stay here?"

"If we were to stay here they would undoubtedly bring up the past continuously in conversation," L replied after a moment's thought, looking back at Light from where he now stood in the plane, "While moving away would mean we both would get a fresh start and a chance to think about the future without the ghosts of our pasts around us."

"Eleanor would be happier if she was further away from those who would keep you in the past as well," Jason said suddenly.

Light knew that what they both said was true; he was feeling nervous about leaving only because they would be leaving so many people behind. Even Wammy would be leaving them after the first couple of weeks so he could supervise the rebuilding of Wammy's House. The reasons were leaving were still sound despite his inner turmoil.

Light smiled as L slowly raised a hand towards him, as if trying to beckon him onto the plane. With no more hesitation he took it and felt a sudden weight lift from his shoulders as he moved to stand by his partner. It was as if finally just being with L away from all the pressures of the outside world, and now away from all the pressures their friends had put on them unintentionally had vanished. It truly was just about them, Eleanor and Jason. Light realised then, that even though he had never seen where they were going and only had a basic knowledge of the language, it still felt like he was going home.

The End