"Every other Day" by OnAir (aka. Eloe)

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Disclaimer: I do not own anything. The characters belong to Aoyama Gôsho. I just play with them. No money is made here.

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I have lost your photography
I know
I have nothing left now

(by Myslovitz)

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Prologue

He closed the door loudly behind him, the morning paper in his hand. It was early in the morning, but Ran and Conan were already out of the house, leaving Kogoro alone in the agency. There was no difference between this day, and every other for the last few months, except for the date, and no difference between this day and all the other days for the last 10 years. Every day he woke up, to find the other bedside empty, and every day he thought, that maybe today would be the day, the day that he finally would have the courage to give in, to ignore his pride, and tell her that he was sorry and that he wanted her back. But that courage never came.

He sat down at his desk with a coffee-mug, spreading the newspaper out in front of him. The clock on the wall was ticking, its second hand moving fast from one number to the next. With a sigh Kogoro turned the page, looking for something to draw his attention, something he could complain about to himself, or something funny that would make him laugh for the rest of the day, but there was nothing.

He turned the next page, flying over the text with his eyes. And suddenly there it was, one of those articles that made him smile. One of those he usually kept in his drawer to read them again and again when Ran and Conan were asleep.

The Queen of the Court had yet again won a difficult case, adding another goal to her statistics, proving her top-rank position on the list of those, who never loose. She was smiling, her confident expression never fading, and starring back at him from behind her glasses.

It was at then, that Kogoro Mouri realized, that today of all days, would be different.

Silently he ripped the page out of the paper, folded it and put it into his drawer. It was still there. That confident expression from the black and white photography. Just like that smile on the face of the man, who was standing next to her.

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Chapter I: How I imagined it to be

The TV was turned on, and Yoko Okino tapes were lying all over the floor. No matter how hard he tried to justify his actions by telling himself, that he was only looking for one special tape, it became more and more apparent, that in fact, the room was just one big mess, like everything else in his life was. Well, maybe not everything. There was Ran, whom he was very proud of for one, and he had been rather successful in his job lately, but apart from that, there seemed to be nothing. His life seemed to consist of his work, casual visits at the play hall for some mahjong, some drinking with old colleagues and last but not least, TV, or to be more precise Yoko Okino.

He hated to admit it, but it was not exactly how he had planed his life to turn out. Not in the least.

When he had been a young man, his future seemed very clear. He would propose to Eri and marry her. He would join the police force and get to work for the murder squad one day. And finally he would become a father of a son or a daughter, he didn´t care much about the gender, whom he would teach Judo and be proud of.

But it had all fallen to pieces on the day he shoot Eri. It hadn´t been an accident, but the only way of getting her out of a kidnappers force. Both of them had known it, but Kogoro never told the reason when he was questioned by his supervisor. After the inquiry he decided to leave the police and Eri decided to leave him. It was not because of the shooting, but because of a misunderstanding involving cooking and his fear that she was not getting enough rest.

He never thought that she would really leave. But she did.

It was his pride that forbade him to go after her, to tell her, that he was a twat, that he was sorry, that he loved her and that he wanted nothing more, than her to come back home. Every day, he was waiting for her to give in and come back. But she never did.

And suddenly one day, Kogoro stopped to wait, because he realized, that she wouldn´t give in. Not until he did.

The vision of his future, that he had after graduation slowly faded. He had lost his wife and given away his job. The only thing that was left, was his daughter, Ran. Because even if it was Karate, and not Judo, upon wich he had decided, he was still proud of her. After all, she was the most important thing in his life.

Kogoro began to put the tapes away. He wasn´t in the mood for watching Yoko Okino right now.

"Dad? I´m ho... me!"

It was Ran´s voice that made him turn around. She was standing behind him with an angry expression, looking down at the tapes, that were still lying on the floor.

"I was out of the house for only half a day, and you already managed to turn the whole room into a mess!" She sighted heavily. "No wonder mum has left you!"

Kogoro mumbeld something angrily, picked the tapes up slowly and put them away. Ran shook her head. She was going away over the weekend for a karate contest, and with Conan at prof. Agasa´s her father was going to be all alone at home. Or more precise the home was going to be all alone with her father.

"Did you pick up your Suite from the cleaner´s?" she asked looking at him questioning.

"Pick up my suite?" Kogoro repeated puzzled.

"Yes. For the party at the Beika Hotel this evening. You know the police ball you get an invitation to every year because you help them so often."

"It´s today?"

"Yes. It is today," Ran answered impatiently, but her father just shrugged.

"And you will attend that party! It´s for the good..." but Kogoro interrupted her.

"For the good of the agency, I know," he said grumpily.

It was not that he didn´t like going to all those parties. On the contrary, he loved them. He could drink for free, flirt with pretty women and he was treated like a celebrity. But the police ball was different. Every year his past and present life seemed to collide on that very evening, and when he got home he was so depressed, that he didn´t care the least for the hangover he was going to have in the morning.

"I´ll go and get that stupid suite," he sighed.

Ran nodded. "But hurry up. Dinner will be ready soon."

Kogoro didn´t answer. Dinner seemed to be the only thing he could look forward to.

Tbc...

A/N: As most of you have probably noticed, English is not my maternal language. I tried my best, so this story would not contain too many errors, but I know that they still are there.

That is why I´m desperately looking for a beta. Please, if you are capable of that job and interested, tell me! I´ll appreciate any help I can get. bows

Still, I hope you liked it. Reviews are (of course) welcome .