Chapter Summary: The last chapter. L recovers from his surgery, and the baby is adorable and loved by all, especially Mayu. A few months later, everyone is gathered in the living room, chatting light-heartedly, and L realizes he is surrounded by family and friends.

Objectionable Material: Nothing particularly bad. Rated T.

Disclaimer: Death Note and affiliated characters are owned and created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

XX. Epilogue

As L recovered from the surgery, he was still too weak to care of baby Ryan, so Light took up most of the responsibilities. L stayed in bed, and Light tried to leave Ryan with him whenever possible, brining in bottles of formula and letting L feed him. He also set up a cradle in the room.

Mayu became a permanent fixture in the room as well. While she didn't care for pregnancy, she seemed to love the baby. She spent much of her time holding Ryan while snuggling in bed next to L. She was constantly gushing over how cute Ryan was, and she really disliked any attempt to cut off what she viewed as her 'turn' holding him. Taryn once suggested she let Light hold the baby, but Mayu clutched him to her chest and said, "No! Mine!"

Four months after his birth, Ryan had only become cuter. He had dark hair like L, but Light's eyes. L had recovered completely, and was happy to be able to walk around freely, after the months of incubating the child, and recovering from surgery. One afternoon he was in the kitchen helping Light prepare snacks. Mayu, Taryn, and Taryn's daughter, Rebecca, were gathered in the living room.

"Yagami Ryan!" Mayu said, holding the giggling baby above her head. "Yagami Ryan! Do you know how cute you are! You are so cute- Ah! He drooled on my face!"

L laughed and took Ryan as Mayu handed the child off. "He didn't mean to, did you Ryan?" L nuzzled the baby, who continued laughing. His son's expressions already resembled Light's…

"Why did you name him Ryan?" Mayu asked.

Light shrugged. "I wanted to name him after Taryn, and I thought 'Ryan' was kind of close."

Mayu frowned. "You only think that because you don't speak English very well…"

"I think that's very sweet!" Taryn said, looking as though she were about to become emotional. "And Mayu, shut up."

"I'm going to play with Rebecca," Mayu said, sitting on the floor next to the blonde two year old. She continued in a baby-talk voice, "Because baby Webecca can play without dwooling on people. Isn't that wight?"

"Mh hmm," the girl said. She was building a structure out of colorful blocks. "Mayu will play with me."

"See how articulate she already is?" Mayu said, petting the girl's silky hair.

"I'm so glad our children will be friends," Taryn said.

L sat on the couch, holding Ryan in his lap. "Perhaps some day these two will be married," he said. He held Ryan up in front of his face. "How would you feel about that?" He asked playfully.

"HAH!" Mayu snorted. "He'd feel lucky as all hell, if he looks anything like you! This girl is going to be a tall beautiful blonde like her mother. You can already see it. Look at her bone structure!"

"Maybe Ryan will look like Light," Taryn noted. Then she caught herself. "I mean not that uh…"

L scowled at her, then had her make up for it by holding Ryan while he helped Light in the kitchen.

Light and L looked out at their living room. Taryn was bouncing Ryan on her knee and Mayu was helping Rebecca with her block structure and cooing over how beautiful the girl's blonde hair was.

"I never thought I would be happy like this," L said.

Light wrapped his arms around him. "Neither did I."

"I grew up all alone, and as an adult I thought my personality made that impossible to change. But now, I have a family and I have friends… I have you…"

Light nodded. "I love you, Ryuzaki-chan." He pulled away. "Although I do feel that something is missing."

"What?" L asked, turning to face him.

"Well, I thought I would wait until you had more distance from the pregnancy experience, but… at some point I would like to try to have a daughter."

"What?" L asked, looking startled.

"You heard me," Light teased, embracing L from behind again. He playfully nipped at his ear. "I'd like to knock you up again."

L thought for a moment. "I wouldn't be opposed to it. In a couple years. I wonder if Taryn intends to have any more children. It would be fun to time our pregnancies together… but not for a couple years. I can't subject my body to such abuse yet."

Light grinned, and released L. They brought the remaining trays of hors d'oeuvers to the coffee table. L relieved Taryn of her baby holding duties, taking his son back and cradling him in his arms. Light smiled expressively at the baby, and allowed it to grasp his finger with its tiny hand.

"Taryn, do you think you will have any more children?" L asked, reaching for a cookie, and biting into it, careful not to shower his son with crumbs.

"Yes actually," Taryn said brightly. "I mean, not now but… In a couple years. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," L said. But he looked up to see Mayu staring right at him.

Mayu rapidly recited a few words in French, much to quickly for Taryn, let alone Light, to understand. But L was fairly certain he caught the meaning correctly: "Maybe the next one can be named after me."

Thanks for reading. This chapter took a while even though the whole story was written before I started posting it; I just couldn't get around to doing my one read through. But this is for a good reason- I have been distracted writing 3 new stories, 2 of which are finished, all of which will begin posting soon. Hopefully tomorrow. Thanks for reading.