Anyway, Meitantei Conan doesn't belong to me but to Aoyama Gosho and all those other people who publish and animate this wonderful manga/anime.

Ran opened her eyes this time to find herself lying on the couch in her father's office. When had she fallen asleep? And then Ran remembered her dream.

*Shinichi...what'll I do about him???*

It was then that Ran noticed someone had covered her with her coat. She knew that her father was still out, and there was no sign of Conan. Then who...?

Ran glanced at the clock on her cell phone, and couldn't believe what time it was! But she was even more startled by the little icon that told her that someone had sent her an email. She opened the email and was surprised to see a picture of herself asleep. After her initial shock resided, she read the email:

Your sleeping face.
Detective Kid

No sooner had Ran read the email than her cell phone rang.

"Yes?"

"Good evening. This is the Detective Kid."

"Shi-Shinichi?...You were here?"

"Yeah. Until just a bit ago."

"If you have enough time to do stupid, silly little things then it would have been nice if you had woken me up!"

"Sorry, sorry. It was because you were drooling and looked like you were sleeping so peacefully."

"Drool?" Ran was feeling a bit embarrassed now. Shinichi had seen her drool? He sure was a charmer with words, wasn't he?

"Oh, and while I was waiting for you to wake up I got a little hungry...I ate it all, the chocolate that was on top of the table."

"Whaaat?" He ate her chocolate? She had made it for him originally, but she hadn't decided yet if she was going to give it to him or not. Just like she needed to decided if she was going to wait for him or not...

"But, it was different than I expected. The peach shaped chocolate..."

"Peach shaped chocolate?" Peach? It was suppose to have been a heart...

"It didn't taste at all like peach, but it tasted REALLY good."

Ran felt a blush touch her cheeks when she heard his words. "R-really?"

"Of all the ones I've ever had, it's the best I've ever tasted! Where'd you buy it at?"

"No! I'm not gonna tell you! It's a place only I know...because it's a special store. But, Shinichi, isn't Detective Kid a little impersonal?"

"Ah, well..."

Ran then decided that the answer to her silly question wasn't as important as something she felt she needed to say. "Anyways, Shinichi, that doesn't matter. Because I slept so late, I need to go. But just to let you know, it wasn't a peach shaped chocolate, it was a heart! Bye!"

She heard a silence before she cut off the phone. The blush remained on her cheeks, and she wondered just what Shinichi's reaction had been to that remark! Kazuha and Sonoko would have been proud of her for having gathered the courage to say that!

Ran took one last look at the picture and email Shinich had sent before putting her cell phone into the pocket of her skirt. Ran knelt to pick up the packaging that had held her chocolate. As she gathered it, and crunched the tissue paper into a little ball, Ran began to remember the events that had happened in her dream. But, the longer she remained awake, the fainter the dream became.

Ran took the garbage to trash can, put it in, and stood up straight. "Well, Shinichi, maybe you do care for me...but since you took the trouble to come see me, even if I was asleep, and say such good things about my homemade chocolate, even if I don't know for sure, I can wait a bit longer. You big, stupid reasoning fool!"

Ran heard a door close, and turned around. Conan stood there.

"I'm home."

"Conan-kun! Sorry, I don't have dinner done yet! I overslept, and...other stuff got in the way. Just give me a minute, okay?"

"No problem, Ran-neechan."

Ran started for the kitchen, and as she dreamed about being Shinichi's wife, she hummed to herself. Because her head was filled with thoughts of Shinichi she didn't notice Conan follow her into the kitchen, with a smile on his slightly flushed face.

============
Well, that's it! And yes, Ran's whole dream took place in that nap she had on the couch. (Volume 33, end of File 6) I thought the whole thing fit since she was crying and doubting about giving the chocolate to Shinichi before she went to sleep, and then she did so well afterwards. For Ran and Shinichi's phone conversation, all but the last three sentences Ran said are translated from the manga. But I just had to add my part. :)

Hopefully you let me know what you think! And it's been fun writing this one, and I plan to think of something else to write AFTER I finish my Inuyasha fanfic...ja ne!
August 2001