Chapter 2: "It's complicated"

"That's great mom, I'll see you there. I'll call Jimmy now and tell him."

"Sounds good Rachael, I'm looking forward to it. By the way how are things going with Jimmy?"

"There pretty good. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't wish we could spend more time together but it isn't his fault. Moving is very time consuming."

"You got that right Rachael. There is a lot of stress involved as well as a lot of commitments. I better let you go. He could very well have scheduled something shortly after twelve. Take care of yourself honey"

"Thanks mom, see you soon," Rachael said happily as she hung up the phone. That had gone surprisingly well. She was very surprised that her mother was willing to go on vacation with her father. The fact that there parents were willing to see each other for such a long period of time was a vast improvement in their relationship. In-fact everyone she asked was able to go. In-addition to herself, her parents and Conan six other people were coming. Doctor Agasa and Vi were more than happy to come, as were Mitch, Amy, and George. Serena was always ready for a vacation and was already making plans for their trip.

"Rachael would you please pay attention," her father said sounding annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry dad."

"I know that you are having the time of your life with your new boyfriend but that doesn't mean you can spend every second of the day thinking about him and ignoring the rest of us."

Rachael blushed. Her father did have a point; she had been doing a lot of day dreaming lately.

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied defensively. "What did you want?"

"You have a phone call."

"Who is it?" she asked faintly feeling her cheeks burn up with embarrassment.

"Jimmy," her father told her sounding slightly amused as she handed her the phone.

"Hello Rachel," Jimmy said sounding unsure how to react to the recent development between her and her father.

"Hi Jimmy, I'm calling about the trip to Kyoto."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. How many people will be going?"

"There will be nine people in total."

"Sounds good Rachael, I'll let my mom know. Do you have any preferences as to which hotel you would like to stay at?"

"Actually, no one really cared."

"So why can't Serena make it?"

"JIMMY!"

"Yes Rachael?" Jimmy replied nervously.

"As true as that is don't let Serena hear you say that."

"Jesus Rachael you just gave me a heart attack."

"Just having some fun," she replied giggling. It was so easy to mess with Jimmy's head.

"I'll get you back for that Rachael," Jimmy said in a warning tone.

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied. "Actually Serena was to busy planning our itinerary to tell me what hotel. Just tell your mom to pick one."

"I'm sure she'll have one in mind ."

"Okay, and Jimmy I wanted to ask you something about Conan."

"Oh."

"He wants to talk to your mom, because his parents told him to. What is that about?"

Jimmy sighed and in a very serious tone asked her "do you know exactly how Conan and I are related?"

"Not really. Aren't you cousins or something?"

"Yes. I'll make a very long story short. My father was actually part of a very large family that didn't get along at all. There were always fighting, always. I don't pretend to know that much about it; my father never talks about it. He couldn't get away from it fast enough actually. All I know is that Conan is the son of one of my father's brothers and some girl he met at a bar."

"In that case why isn't Conan's last name Kudo?"

"His mother's family name was in danger of dying out."

"Oh, I guess I understand now, but wouldn't Conan's parents tell him to talk to your dad? Why would you tell your son to talk to the in-laws?"

"Mom has an ear for gossip and a lot of it is spread in this family. I have no idea what is going on, however I had heard horrible things through the grape vine. Everyone in the family has. The difference is my mom has the resources to confirm and deny this gossip. You know how good she is at disguises. She probably knows the truth by now and Conan's parents know it"

"Oh, wow. I hope everything is okay," she said worriedly.

"I won't lie, it probably isn't it. I'll call my mom now. Tell Conan to expect a call very soon.

Thank-you for reading chapter two! I hope you liked it. Special thanks to elsey951 and Luiz4200 for reviewing.