Watari Pt 2: Wammy's House

"The contentious issue of who is to oversee the day to day running of Wammy\'s House." Mello mused aloud, as soon as everyone was back in their seats after cigarettes and grabbing refreshments. He leaned back against the table with the projector on it and turned to face the sunlight streaming in through the window above. Almost as an afterthought, he took the lapels of his leather jacket and pulled it away from him, throwing the garment to Matt. The redhead caught it easily and draped it over the back of his chair. Mello\'s gaze was already on the woman standing behind his husband though and everyone\'s attention was guided by his to her too. "Thank you for attending this meeting, Hal."



Hal stood a little more straighter, her eyebrows raised as she returned Mello\'s stare. "You are welcome, though I am not sure why I have been considered for this task. It is a little outside my skill set."



Mello nodded, suddenly animated. Everyone turned to watch him push away from the table and pace. "Precisely what I thought when Mail mentioned you. So, this morning, while I was going through his notes, that was one of the first points I queried." Mello stopped walking and smiled. "His response reminded me, as if I needed the reminder, that the man is a genius. Do you want to know what he said to me?" He awaited the series of nods that rippled around the room. "Mail pointed out to me that two things need to happen before we can even begin to make any reforms in the constitution of this establishment. The first is that we all have to agree to work together, as a co-operative board, and that the chair is strong enough to stop us going for each other\'s throats. The second is that there is a Watari who everyone trusts to do the job. Ok, there was a third one too, but I disagreed with him on that one, so it\'s irrelevant."



Matt supplied it anyway. "The person has to be able to not be intimidated by either Mello or Near."



"Why just them?" Fenian growled. "Why is it ok for this person to be intimidated by the rest of us?"



"Because of their positions." Matt replied softly. "As it stands, the purpose of the institution is to train successors to L. Near is currently L and Mello is currently the first in line to succeed should Near be unable to fulfill the position. Besides, I warrant that anyone not intimidated by these pair would probably not be intimidated by us mere mortals either."



"I agree with Mello. It\'s irrelevant." Fenian shrugged. "So why Hal?"



Mello grinned. "You weren\'t there, Fenian. You were farting around potholes in Galway. Last week, we all sat in Near\'s headquarters and squabbled like kids in a playground. Hal was the one who kept us in line. Everyone agree with me?" There was a pause before gestures and mumblings of affirmation came from those who had been present. Not one of them wanted to admit that Hal\'s presense had been convenient. They had each censored themselves under the guise of bowing to Hal; it helped them each retain their pride intact. "Moreover, Matt said that she earned his respect during," Mello paused, aware that only a handful of those present knew about the catastrophic events around the revelations of the Mario Clause, "an encounter that they had. She badgered him to put out his cigarette in a non-smoking environment, which he views with mixed feelings." He winked at Matt. "Mostly negatively, but the important point is that she was not intimidated by him either. He said, and I quote, \'I really had to think fast to get one over on her\'. Tell me, people, wouldn\'t you like to see a Watari here who Mail is challenged by? I don\'t think we\'ve ever had one of those."



"You haven\'t mentioned the main thing." Matt prompted.



"I know, guapo. I\'m doing it now." Mello grinned. "He first thought of Hal because of something that she did months ago, immediately after the final showdown with Kira. The greatest threat of our lives was over and suddenly we\'re all standing around like lemons, realising that we\'re stuck with people whom we don\'t like very much. The circumstances made it a bit awkward. So what happened next? This lady walked straight into the middle of us and persuaded me and Near to have a conversation. Mail, what was it she said again that really touched you?"



"She said, \'What did that Wammy place do to you all?\'"



"Thank you, eidetic memory boy." Mello gestured towards Hal. "She had just watched three geniuses play the game to the best of our abilities. Everyone else was standing around stunned as fuck, but what did she do? She saw the human beings behind us and went from that to wandering why we were so damaged as to not be reacting like everyone else was."



Matt sniffed, "She listed our ages. Got mine a year out and Near\'s two years out, I think, but who cares? She recognised that we were very young to be taking on such a burden and deduced that the common denominator was Wammy\'s House. I remember thinking at the time, \'Fuck! I\'m glad you were never sitting in Roger\'s chair\'!" Behind him, Hal blushed deeply. She had listened to all of this so far with stoic calm. "Someone that bright, who actually gives a shit about the kids as humans rather then geniuses. She gets my vote."



Mello raised a finger, "There is also the fact that we are asking Near to give up responsibility for the House. Hal, as his employee, might ease that process a bit and would definitely give Near someone whom he knows as his point of contact here. Since Mr Wammy died, Roger has been in charge of making arrangements reliant upon the Watari Network, its contacts and funds. Who better to take on that role than someone who has been on the front line receiving the benefits of that assistance?" Mello grinned. "I\'m with Mail here. I think that Hal is an excellent choice."



The response from Near came quickly, "But she is already working for me in a very important role here. Mello is just trying to manoeuvre the situation so that his friend is in a more neutral position, so that he doesn\'t have to engage with me in order to speak with her."



Mello scowled. "No, if I want to speak with Hal, I just pick up my phone and call her mobile. Freak."



"Nevertheless, it annoys Mello that his friend works for me."



Hal rolled her eyes and, around the room, various people noticed. Some of them smiled quite openly. Mello hadn\'t finished though. "Ok, Near, you name someone else who fits this criteria: is bolshy enough to shout any of us down; is bright enough to match the speed of our minds; is competent enough to run the place; is flexible enough to fit into any situation in a leadership capacity; has experience in handling the likes of me, you and this lot here; has our collective trust; has demonstrated more than an academic interest in the children, ie she cares; and more importantly knows about Wammy\'s House, knows the origin of L and wouldn\'t therefore require us to place a position vacant advert in the bloody newspaper!" He glared at the laptop bearing Near\'s initial, though Mello\'s eyes gleamed in triumph. "It would take more than a CRB check to ensure the background security of someone moving in here, wouldn\'t you agree, Near?"



Near was silent. So was everyone else. In the end it was Lamond who sniggered, "Can we get back to the bit where Near and Mello were arguing over who\'s friend she is? Because that was quite funny."



Hal stepped forward, "Lamond, please?" She quickly addressed Mello. "This is all very persuasive, but I really know nothing about child services, especially those based in another country. My background is not in social care."



"No, it isn\'t." Mello smirked. "It\'s in justice. Guess what the purpose of this House is? Training detectives, which you fundamentally are. You have a lot of experience in that. It doesn\'t really matter about the rest, because that\'s the purpose of this Board. We will create the framework of rules and regulations; we will hear the appeals on decisions and also make the important ones; all you have to do is be our eyes and ears on the ground. I definitely trust you to make the right decisions in any situations that you would encounter here. We\'re going to hire more housekeepers too, so there are an army of Anns running around being surrogate mothers." Several startled looks flashed in his direction. This had not yet been discussed. "We are going to hire bespoke psychologists, a kind of Madeleine for the mind, who can treat the traumatised geniuses thrown into this place. You are effectively managing a business, liaision and negotiation work, acting as a bridge between all the parties involved. You are brilliant at that sort of thing, especially within a detective context, which is what this is."



"You really have got this all worked out, haven\'t you, Mello?" Hal blinked at him.



"Not me. I\'m just the mouthpiece." Mello grinned. "Mail\'s the one who thought this one through. I agree with him wholeheartedly though. 100% support."



"I do feel very rail-roaded, Mello, and this is not something that fits easily with my career path."



Mello nodded. "I understand. But what an amazing string to your bow. Where else are you going to get another opportunity like this, to branch out into something totally different? It would be an experience and it doesn\'t have to be forever. Call it a trial run. Give it perhaps six months or a year. A secondment! I\'m sure that Near will guarantee your position there, so you could just return into your current role if you really didn\'t like it. In the meantime, we aren\'t rushing against the clock to replace Roger within two or three weeks, because he\'s already resigned and we do need a replacement." He smiled, charmingly. "Hal, you would be so great at this."



"You are effectively looking for a Watari whom you can all control. So I\'m the perfect candidate because I\'m so malleable?"



"No, no, no, no, no." Mello reached out to hold her arm. "Your role would be more like the president. We\'re all the senate. We\'ve had a tyrant and now we\'re striving towards a republic, where all the people have freedoms that are enshrined in the law."



Hal stared at him, incredulity painted lightly upon her features. "If you\'re convincing me, and I repeat the word \'if\', it\'s not because of some lame attempt to appeal to my sense of patriotism."



Mello bit his lip, leaning slightly forward, "So I am convincing you." His eyes held hers and Hal\'s expression became decidedly blank. "I personally think you are perfect," he smiled, "for this role." Around the room people frowned or exchanged smiling glances. Matt just watched them, smirking; the rest of his features were unreadable behind the length of his fringe and the goggles, though more than one person glanced in his direction to try. "Hal, why don\'t you give it a trial run?"



"Excuse me!" Linda raised her hand. "We haven\'t discussed yet whether the rest of us approve your choice of candidate."



Mello nodded, breaking away from his gazing at Hal with obvious reluctance. He stood beside her, their arms touching until Hal took another step to the side. "This is very true. Can anyone else think of someone better than Hal to take on this role?" There was silence, even from Near\'s laptop. "Ok, let me put this another way. Has anyone got any objections to us offering Hal the position?"



Fenian exhaled, "Only as a point of protest in that I think we all feel rail-roaded into this, not just Hal."



"Point noted." Mello smiled faintly. "Near, would you guarantee her position as a secondment, from the SPK to Wammy\'s House, as she takes up her trial run as Watari? Thus acting as your main contact within the House?"



Near didn\'t speak for a very long time. When he did, it was a cursory, "Yes, I guarantee that."



Mello winked at Hal, "What could you see yourself doing, as your first duty, with this kind of career opportunity?"



"Finding some way of keeping you out of the interview process for hiring staff." Hal smiled back.



"Good." Mello let his hand slide down Hal\'s arm, as he moved away past her. "I\'m glad that your priority isn\'t finding your replacement." He reached Matt\'s side and the redhead held up a folder, which he had just taken out of his bag. Mello squeezed Matt\'s shoulder. "This is a contract that we thought you might like to see. We thought a year, with a six-month probation period on both sides? Also we left the salary blank, because we don\'t know what Near is paying you and we would, of course, like to give you a substantial raise. You would also like the chance to negotiate something appropriate for yourself, I should imagine." He handed the hard copies to Hal, while Matt distributed electronic copies to everyone else. "Do we have a deal?"



"Give me chance to read it, Mello." Hal sighed. "And, of course, discuss this with Near."



Mello inclined his head towards her. "People, am I right in thinking that we now have both important parts of the infrastructure in place? Namely we have consent for a Board to be formed out of our alumni, with the power to make decisions and to create a constitution for the future of Wammy\'s House; and secondly, a strong, potential candidate to act as the reconfigured Watari. Am I right?" There were murmers of stunned agreement. "That\'s excellent. So all that\'s needed now are endless months of arguing about the fine detail. I would like to submit a motion that we do that through electronic meetings, as time is precious and some of us have to travel a long way to be here." There was instant agreement from everyone present. Matt\'s arms crossed over his chest, one hand touching Mello\'s. It was held. Mello grinned widely. "Excellent! And well done, Mail."



Fenian frowned. "Why can I not get rid of the feeling that we\'re somehow being fucking shafted here?"



"Because you\'re a perfect product of the old Watari system." Mello winked at him. "Hence you\'re as paranoid as fuck."