"Are you alright, Yagami-san?"

Soichiro choked on his coffee, slamming the book shut. "Ah…no. I mean—yes. I'm alright. Everything's fine here, L."

L regarded him impassively over the open door of the fridge. "I see." He pulled out a plate of apple pie and cut himself a hefty wedge. "Reading Sherlock Holmes again?"

"It is a rather good book," Soichiro replied—perhaps a bit too defensively.

L nodded. "It is." He forked a large piece of pie into his mouth, frowning as he munched. "Mrs. Hudson's was better," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." A pause. "Which story are you at?"

"The Hound of the Baskervilles," Soichiro answered, sipping at his coffee and hoping L wouldn't catch the lie.

L, strangely, seemed to have frozen. "Ah," he murmured eventually. "That's a good one. Interesting, I mean."

Soichiro just nodded.

L wolfed down another piece of pie, and said, "When you are finished, Ide has found some files he wants you to go over."

"I'll be right out."

With a grunt of acknowledgement, L left the break room. Soichiro heaved a sigh of relief, and slumped down into his chair. He flipped the heavy book back open and stared at the page, as if through sheer willpower he could make the words more believable.

It didn't work.

It was pouring rain in the streets that evening, and Holmes and I had long retired to the sitting room at our lodgings at Baker Street. It was the dreary sort of weather that promised nothing of interest, and even I was getting restless when a strange young man with a stranger name walking into the room. L, he called himself…

As promised, here's the short epilogue. I'll leave it up to you guys as to what L had learned, if he'd even learned anything at all ;)

Huge thanks go to all you readers and reviewers. Without you guys, this story probably wouldn't have been finished. So thank you, and happy holidays!