Last Chapter:

"Ran!?" Shinichi called, staring at her. He was expecting a deadly killer with a gun, not his childhood friend full of leaves.

Ran stood there, shocked. She wasn't ready to face Shinichi, not after what happened. The guilt resurfacing as she saw him wince in pain after calling her name. The thought of running flashed through her head, but her feet didn't move. 'She told me that you were special. Someone who can put things in motion, she was convinced that you would help end things, and make things better' she remembered Kid talking about Vermouth. 'Make things better' she thought building her courage as she walked closer to Shinichi. They looked at each other, thinking about all the things they want to say and ask, as their mouths stayed shut.

"Ummm" Heiji said, "How about some audio for this conversation?" he asked annoyed.

"Oh! I'm sorry, How are you?" Ran asked him nervously "I haven't seen you in a while....How's Kazuha?" she asked in a rush.

Heiji stared at her with narrow eyes "She's fine, last I checked she didn't run off with a criminal" he said coldly. He was really glad that Ran was back, but couldn't help blaming her for Shinichi's condition, the memory of dragging Shinichi to the hospital still fresh in his memories. Heiji's harsh words made Ran step back, she couldn't think of anything to say. 'Nothing I say can fix this' she thought 'He's right' she looked down at the ground, too afraid to face them. Heiji instantly began regretting his outburst, he knew deep down it wasn't her fault. Before he could apologies and get her to cheer up Shinichi stepped closer to her. Ran flinched but didn't move away, as she continued looking down, waiting for the outburst of anger. Shinichi put his forehead on hers and sighed.

"Thank God" he mumbled softly, closing his eyes. There they stood nose to nose, waiting for the other to speak, too afraid to move an inch.

"A-hem!" Heiji coughed "Well, if she's the killer after you, I think you can handle it" Heiji said awkwardly, he had never seen the two of them so close, and it was creeping him out. 'It's like a scene from a chick flick' he thought, slightly disgusted 'Except I know them' He said his goodbyes and quickly left the park, surprised to find himself thinking about Kazuha.

Ran and Shinichi slowly stepped away from each other, a deep blush on their cheeks. Ran fiddled with her hands and Shinichi looked in another direction, scratching his head Ran resolved herself and started talking first.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out "I didn't explain things to you, and I got involved in something you were trying to keep me away from. It was a stupid idea that got you hurt" she said unable to make eye contact.

"No! It's my fault too, if I had told you everything, you wouldn't have done something so irrational" he said. 'Irrational?' Ran thought getting annoyed at his attitude.

"And I suppose you weren't Irrational when you jumped out in front of people shooting?" she asked coldly.

"I thought you were dead!" he defended, picking up on her attitude.

"Well even if I was, you don't jump out in front of guys with guns! You idiot!" she screamed back.

"Yeah, I'm an idiot for trying to save you!" he screamed back

"Well if you thought I was dead why jump out to save me!?"

"Because I love you and had to make sure you were OK!" he screamed back, furious. He stopped the next insult from coming out of his mouth, realising what he just said. Ran stared at him in shock, completely forgetting her anger. Shinichi opened his mouth to say something when they heard a slow clap coming from behind them.

"Good for you, brat. Finally admitting it, just in the nick of time" Gin said, the horrible burn scar on his face shined in the light. "I've done my homework on you both; I never thought I'd get this chance so quick! I didn't even have to lift a finger" he said, raising a silver handgun.

Shinichi stretched his hand out in front of Ran, pushing her behind him, the adrenaline keeping his mind off the pain in his back and stomach. "That note was really vague, you could have put a date" he said smugly to Gin. Gin smiled and stepped closer.

"I heard that you're friend had been coming to this park every night at the same time, and look who decides to show up the night I visit. I don't know about any note, but it must be my lucky day" He said stepping close enough that the gun was inches away from Shinichi's heart.

"Now I get to kill you both, nice and slow" he said "But first!" he grabbed Shinichi arm and tore his watch off "I need to get rid of this annoying thing!" He looked at the watch, a small laugh escaping his mouth "A tranquilizer watch...Doesn't work well when there's fire around to keep you awake" he tapped the scar with his finger "The smell of burning flesh is better than an alarm clock"

Gin moved the gun up to Shinichi's forehead. "You took everything from me" he said, Ran let out a yelp. Gin looked at her and smiled. He pulled the trigger. The booming noise sliced through the night air. Shinichi felt something splash onto his cheek; he opened his eyes and saw red. Ran was shaking, holding the gun as her shoulder fell dead against her side, she was breathing heavily

"You annoying bitch!" Gin yelled, pulling the gun from her hand and smashing it against her head, she gasped in pain as she fell to the ground. Gin pointed the gun back at Shinichi, he stood still, noticing Ran slowly standing up.

"No more distractions!" Gin screamed, his finger pulling the trigger back. The booming noise echoed through the park as the gun flew through the air, Ran stood holding her shoulder as she lowered her extended leg back onto the ground. Her breathing was ragged as blood spilled down her face. Gin watched as the gun clattered to the ground behind Shinichi. He swore under his breath and reached into his coat for another gun.

"I don't think so!" Shinichi said, standing up. His shoes crackled as he swiftly kicked Gin in the chest. He screamed in agony as he flew backwards crashing into a park bench on the other side of the park. The noise of cracking wood and limbs filled the air in a huge clatter. Ran looked at Gin, sprawled out on a pile of wood; she could barely make out the shape in the distance. Shinichi's shoes crackled loudly before the lightning settled.

"...Did you have to kick him so far?" Ran couldn't help asking, the image of Gin flying through the sky burned in her memory.

"Blame Agasa" Shinichi defended. "He told me these new shoes would be stronger-"he looked at the unconscious Gin "But this is ridiculous!"

Ran looked at him amazed; he just had a gun pointed at him but now he was marvelling at his shoes. She let out a small laugh and she fell to her knees 'Kid was right. There are going to be a lot of interesting dinner conversations in the future' she thought to herself, as she faded into the darkness, the sound of Shinichi calling her name faded away.

***

Conan walked through the door. "Welcome home" Ran called to him from the kitchen, the sound of plates clattering as she prepared dinner. "Go wash your hands" she told him, focusing on the food. Conan smiled and put his backpack near the door, heading to the bathroom to wash his hands. He was drying them when he heard the front door open.

"I'm home!" a young girl screamed out cheerfully, her long brown hair bouncing as she threw her bag against the couch. Ran sighed 'I don't think that bag will make it through another year' she thought, regretfully. "Welcome home, go change and wash your hands, dinner will be ready soon" she said.

"Ok!" the young girl screamed, heading to her room, she passed Conan and jokingly punched his shoulder "Nice to see you nerd" she said laughing. Conan held his arm and sighed "I'm not a nerd" he explained, it was the same routine every day.

"But you look so geeky in glasses" the girl answered back, "Good thing you only need them to read" she slapped Conan hard on the back, making him stumble forward. He sighed. Last week he noticed he was getting headaches when reading, and ever since getting reading glasses he had to explain to his younger sister that he wasn't a nerd. He pulled out a chair from the table and sat, watching his mom prepare 3 plates.

"Dad's not coming home for dinner?" he asked.

"No, he's got a case and hasn't been able to find evidence to prove his theory" she explained, sighing.

"He should be home soon then" Conan said proudly, no one was a better detective than his dad.

"Yeah" the young girl agreed, sitting down at the table. Ran smiled and placed the plates down; she noticed a bruise on the young girl.

"What happened?" Ran asked, lifting the girl T-shirt to see a huge bruise.

"I fought with Kyle today" the girl answered, proudly.

"Why?" Ran asked, as she looked through the cupboards for the 1st aid kit. "He's two years older than you, I doubt your instructor scheduled a match"

"No, but Kyle kicked me!" she said innocently "I didn't think I was strong enough to stop it with my hands so I used my arm" Ran narrowed her eyes.

"And why would Kyle suddenly kick you?" she said, waiting for the real answer behind the fight. The young girl looked away.

"I might have called him a gorilla" she mumbled quickly. Ran sighed as she put ice on the bruise.

"And why did you do that?" she asked, a headache coming to her head.

"He called me a man" the girl said, annoyed. "So I called him a gorilla that was too dumb for the zoo, and his friends laughed at him, and he came after me" she explained holding onto the ice. Ran put the 1st aid kit away.

"He called you a man?" she asked, the anger rising in her voice. Conan sulked down in his seat; he knew how angry his mom gets. Ran closed the cupboard and sat down at the table, her brows furrowed together "I'll teach you how to block attacks better, and then we'll work on flipping an opponent that's bigger than you" she said determined. The young girl cheered, as Conan stared in horror 'She's going to get stronger?!' he thought in a panic.

"So, Conan how was your day?" Ran asked, twirling her spaghetti onto her fork.

"Good, we got a new student with a weird name. Then the teacher wanted us all to find out the origins of our name" he said, leaning toward Ran for the answer.

"You were named after Daddy's favourite author!" the young girl said with attitude "Duuh"

"That doesn't make sense though! Why the authors middle name?" he yelled back.

"Because! ... "she screamed back, pausing to think of an answer "Because, Conan starts with 'C' and there's a C in Daddy's name" it was the only answered that she could think of.

"There's an 'A' in Mom's name! I could have been called Arthur, according to your logic!" Conan screamed back teasingly.

"Yeah well!-" the girl answered, trying to think of some other reason for the name. Ran's fork hitting her plate brought both of their attention to their mom, who was laughing like a crazy lady. Ran finally started talking again, the occasional giggle interrupting her speech.

"Actually, I was the one that named you Conan" she said. The children gasped and screamed "No way!" in unison, making Ran laugh harder.

"But you don't like Sherlock Holmes, why would you name him after the author!?" the young girl asked, leaning on the table.

"It's true, that's not a favourite book of mine. I have enough detectives in my life without having to read about one" Ran answered smiling. "I named you after a different Conan" Ran said sweetly, looking at Conan.

"Then what about me!?" the girl asked "Who named me!?" she squealed. Conan and Ran answered at the same time "Shinichi" "Dad".

The young girl slumped down on her chair "I knew it" she said disappointed.

"Who else would name someone Irene?" Conan said, teasingly. Irene stuck her tongue out at Conan.

"Daddy named me that because he knew I would be the best, just like Irene Adler" Irene answered, proudly. Ran started laughing again.

"Who was Conan named after?" Irene asked. Conan perked up his ears, interested in solving this new mystery.

"Conan was named after someone me and your father knew very well" Ran answered, a huge grin on her face. "You're Dad was having a hard time solving a case and-" she was caught off by the kids screaming.

"Dad doesn't have a hard time with a case!" Conan screamed.

"Unless it's Kid-sama " Irene corrected, a faint blush on her face as she pictured his flowing white cape. Conan snubbed at her. Ran giggled.

"How about I tell you all about the Conan you were named after" she said, looking at Conan. "And I'll tell you about the case that Shinichi couldn't solve for months!" she said, in a fairy-tale voice.

****

The sound of children faded from her dream as Ran woke up. Her eyes focused on a face staring down at her.

"Sonoko?" Ran asked her voice full of sleep.

"Thank God!" Sonoko screamed "You slept like the dead! Well more dead than usual" she corrected herself, remembering Ran's sleeping habits. Ran remembered what happened in the park, and the dream she just had. She pulled the hospital sheets up to cover her face, remembering who her husband was in the dream. Sonoko watched as Ran's face turned red.

"You were talking in your sleep" Sonoko said interested "Something about that brat Conan?" Ran froze.

"D-did I say anything else?" she asked, panicked.

"No?" Sonoko asked confused, an evil grin spread on her face "Why was there something else in that dream? Spill! Tell me everything!" Sonoko squealed. Ran's face turned a deep crimson, she looked at Sonoko's expecting face and sigh 'She won't stop until she gets what she wants' Ran thought 'Besides, I can keep out the important details' she thought shyly.

"I had a dream that I had a son named Conan" Ran said, hoping that would be the end of it. Sonoko looked at her disgusted "Why on earth chose a name like that?" Ran was about to answer when she heard laughing coming from the end of her hospital bed. Shinichi raised his head from the bed and stretched his arms, when he saw Ran's shocked face he laughed again.

"I think Conan is a great name" he said teasingly as he leaned against his hand, on the bed. Sonoko looked at him coldly "Who invited you to this conversation?"

"Who invited you to this hospital room?" Shinichi snapped back. Ran could feel the hatred spark between them and sighed. She tried to sit up, but her shoulder wasn't strong enough. Sonoko noticed and helped her up, placing a pillow behind her back. After Ran was comfortable she started talking.

"How long have I been sleeping?" she asked. Sonoko opened her mouth to answer, but then shut it.

"Two days" Shinichi answered, smiling at Sonoko.

"Even though, I only learned about it today" Sonoko mumbled angrily.

"You're lucky I even called you" Shinichi mumbled back.

"Ok!" Ran shouted stopping the fight before it could get any worse. She looked at Shinichi.

"You're Ok?"

Shinichi smiled, lifting his arms "Totally healthy, thanks to someone's crazy karate kick" he teased.

"I had a crazy kick? Did you not see the force of your kick!? You could have killed someone, idiot!"

"How am I an idiot? You're the one that jumped in front of a gun and got her shoulder shot!" Shinichi yelled back. Sonoko looked at them dryly; she was hoping for a happy lovey-dovey reunion 'You're both idiots' she thought.

"I'm going to get some drinks" she said making her way to the door, the two ignored her as they continued bickering "Not that your listening" Sonoko mumbled, closing the door behind her.

"And YOU'RE the one that started all this when you didn't tell me the truth about Conan" Ran continued yelling.

"You would have never found out about it if you stayed away from strangers!" Shinichi defended.

"If you stayed away from strangers they wouldn't have drugged you" Ran yelled back, annoyed "You're such a mystery nut! Always doing dangerous things! You're curiosity will kill you one day!" She was about to scream out her next insult when her mouth was covered with his lips. Ran sat there stunned, her mind turning blank. She closed her eyes and leaned closer to Shinichi. He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him. The world seemed to fade away, and it was just the two of them until-

-CLANK, CLUNK,CLINK-

The sound made them both jump away from each other, as they looked over to see a shocked Sonoko and 3 cans of pop spilling onto the floor. Behind her, in the door frame was Heiji, Eri and Kogoro, all three of them staring in shock. There was a long awkward silence in the room; Ran's face was covered with the blanket.

"I'll kill him!" Kogoro screamed, lifting his fist in the air as he stomped toward Shinichi. Eri pushed him back out the door.

"You knew it would happen one day, at least she picked a smart detective" Eri said, pushing him into the hallway. "My precious daughter and that punk! He's dead!!" Kogoro's death threats faded away through the hall. Heiji coughed once it was quiet again, he didn't know what to do. 'Do I congratulate them?' he wondered. He decided to play it safe.

"Well!" he started awkwardly "I'm going to..." he thought for a second "...Guard the door" he finished poorly; even he knew how bad that sounded. He gave up trying and shut the door, leaning against the wall as a nurse passed by. 'Wait! Does this mean he beat me again!?' Heiji thought annoyed. Just then Kazuha walked toward him with a handful of flowers.

"Hey Heiji" she said cheerfully "Is Ran awake?" she asked. Heiji looked at her and back at the door.

"No...and you're not allowed in there at the moment" he said, exhausted.

"Why?" Kazuha complained "I brought flowers and traveled all this way" Heiji looked at her and smiled at the frown on her face. He remembered Shinichi and Ran and stepped closer to her.

"Hey Kazuha" he said "There's something I need to tell you" Kazuha's heart jumped and she turned to face him, she tried to look at his face but her heart was beating too fast.

"It's something I noticed not too long ago" Heiji continued, getting so close to her face that he could smell the flowers in her hand. Kazuha froze, he eyes shut tight.

"Those flowers are terrible, you should go get new ones" he finished. Kazuha waited with her eyes closed replaying the sentence in her head, slowly realising that she wasn't about to get kissed, or confessed to. She opened her eyes and looked at Heiji, who was grinning like an idiot.

"Oh? I see" Kazuha said, her voice shaking. "Let me just throw these flowers away then!!" she screamed, throwing them at Heiji as the petals exploded into the air. "Thank you for noticing!" Kazuha stormed off, ignoring the screaming idiot following behind her.

The screaming was heard through the door, as Shinichi sighed and shook his head at how childish Heiji was. Not that he should talk, he didn't have the greatest timing either. Ran was starting to worry about Sonoko, she still hadn't moved.

"Um... Sonoko?" Ran asked concerned. "Are you Ok?" she asked nervously. Sonoko blinked, closing her mouth and she stood up straight. Her gaze went back and forth between Ran and Shinichi until an ear shattering scream came from her mouth.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME! YOU STUBBORN IDIOTS!" she raced up to Ran's bed, pushing Shinichi away. "Tell me everything, NOW! Who started it? Please tell me it was you Ran" she squealed.

----

"You don't need me to write anymore notes do you?" Aoko asked Keito as they stood in front of the hospital, faint yelling and screaming coming from the windows. Keito laughed.

"No, I think that one did the trick. Just listen to that happy ending" he said, proudly.

"Does this mean you'll stop being a thief?" she asked, excited.

"Nope" he answered smugly "It just means I have something new to focus on"

Aoko looked at him annoyed "And what if that detective catches you one day?"

"What little faith you have in the great phantom thief!" he teased, acting upset.

"What if it happens, Keito!" she screamed, annoyed at his indifference. Keito looked at her and grinned.

"Guess I'll have to pass on my skills to an heir, just in case" he looked at Aoko, whose face was bright red as she sputtered out noises that barely sounded like words

"Besides, it would be one hell of a story to tell over dinner" Keito laughed, as he held Aoko's hand and walked away. The screaming and laughing coming from the hospital faded in the distance.

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^_^/ Thanks for reading!