A/N: Ey! We made it to chap eleven! Also, I made it to winter break (YAY). As a Christmas/Hanakkuh/whatever else you may celebrate present I'm going to be updating weekly (at the least) on the break. I will also probably be getting myself a nicer computer which will make for much simpler writing access.


Arthur stood outside the door to Detective Héderváry's apartment, he was about to knock, but checked his watch one last time and thought better of it.

It was twelve thirty, there was no chance Roderich was still awake. He had a strict bedtime at like ten or something.

So, Arthur decided to do what at the time he thought was rational in his exhaustion, which was call Detective Héderváry. He could nearly hear her phone ringing through the door. Suddenly, the door swung open and he was pulled inside.

The apartment Roderich and Detective Héderváry shared was well kept, but also reflected the personal lives of the two greatly. The piano was in order, music Roderich was currently working on propped up above the keys, a ballpoint pen resting on top of it. Detective Héderváry had manila folders and paperwork spread across nearly every flat surface, but it looked liked Roderich had had time to go through most of it, arranging what he could in an orderly pile. The coffee table was the only one Detective Héderváry had completely claimed with her paperwork, as it was strewn everywhere.

Detective Héderváry was standing about a meter away from him, wearing what Arthur could assume were her pajamas, she was wearing red sweatpants and a large white T-Shirt tucked into the front of the pants that read Ich liebe Wien. Her hair was in a braid that went a good distance down her back, and her eyes, despite being bright with excitement, had large bags underneath them, partially from exhaustion and partially from makeup.

"I know I look like shit," She remarked, rolling her eyes. "But we have stuff to go over,"

Arthur set his coat down. "I'm not a dog, you can't just call me and expect me to show up,"

Detective Héderváry ran a hand across her face, sitting down on the couch. She looked troubled in her exhaustion. "Yeah, sorry about that," She paused, looking up with a mischievous smile. "You were with Alfred?"

"Shush up," Arthur snapped, sitting down on the floor near the coffee table.

Detective Héderváry eyed him for a long time, opening her mouth more than once as if she wanted to say something, than closing it, too tired to argue.

"Sorry about the mess," She told him, almost seeming embarrassed as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm...scattered," Detective Héderváry let out a puff of laughter, rolling her eyes.

"It looks pretty clean in here to me," Arthur said, the shrug in his voice.

Detective Héderváry waved a hand. "That's all Roderich, though," She indicated at the coffee table they were sitting around, messy with paper. "When I'm done with it, everything looks like this."

"Detective, why am I here?" Arthur asked her, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

Detective Héderváry promptly stood up, pointing at Arthur, a hand pushing her hair that was loosening out of her braid back. "I swear there's a reason," She told him, smirking.

"And that is?" Arthur frowned slightly, he hadn't been called here to deal with Detective Héderváry's stalling.

"Something happened," Detective Héderváry looked down at him, her expression suddenly troubled.

"As you said," Arthur didn't try to annoyance in his voice this time.

"Yeah," She exclaimed. "I was with Antonio and Lovino..." Detective Héderváry shook her head, as if she had just remembered the length of her day. "They seemed to think there was a lead,"

She let out a long sigh, pausing as if to remember every detail. Detective Héderváry then began pacing. "It was a in a bar, when we were in the drug department we used to go to these kinds of places all the time," She nodded at Arthur to clarify, who slowly nodded back. "We didn't stay very long, but there were these people..."

Detective Héderváry tugged at her braid. "A whole lot of them, together. It was a bit suspicious,"

"Did you gain information from them?" Arthur asked her, a tiny bit cautious, as he felt she probably would've told him that first.

"No!" Detective Héderváry exclaimed suddenly, banging her fist on the coffee table and causing Arthur to jump. "Antonio and Lovino were-" She turned around at the sound of a door opening.

"Liza...?" A groggy Roderich appeared, wiping his glasses with his shirt. It was an interesting sight, as Arthur had never seen him not looking overdressed. His hair was also in quite the style, apparently more of it was stubborn instead of just the one cowlick Roderich couldn't ever seem to deal with. It reminded Arthur of Alfred a bit.

Detective Héderváry opened her mouth to explain, but seemed to think differently and said. "Were we being loud, hun? I'm sorry,"

Roderich barely had time to say "We?" before he pushed his glasses on and noticed Arthur. "O-oh, hello, Detective," He seemed to shoot Detective Héderváry that probably would've been more hostile if it hadn't been the middle of the night.

"Hello, Roderich," Arthur said pleasantly, standing to shake his hand. Roderich complied, grimacing at him.

"I'm sorry you have to see me..." He trailed off as Detective Héderváry squeezed his arm slightly, Roderich leaned his face towards her as she kissed him on the cheek, his expression remaining bewildered. "W-what are you guys doing? It's nearly one in the morning," His tone seemed to groan the last sentence.

"I think it's past that, actually," Detective Héderváry stepped in front of him, her expression apologetic. "You can go back to bed, we'll try to be more quiet."

Roderich looked at Arthur, his eyebrows knit together. "Don't send Kirkland home too late,"

Detective Héderváry smiled triumphantly. "What else does he have to do? I won't,"

Roderich nodded once, his expression betrayed that he felt like putting up more of a fight, but he walked into the kitchen without saying another word.

"Where's he going?" Arthur asked Detective Héderváry, who had sat back down on the couch. She smiled fondly.

"I'm assuming he figured he'd get some ice cream, seeing as he's already awake." She remarked, as if this was the most mundane thing she'd ever had to talk about. Arthur wondered for a second how Roderich kept his relatively good form with those eating habits, but the thought disappeared as soon as Detective Héderváry started speaking again. "Should I continue?"

"Yeah, yes." Arthur nodded, eyeing the overwhelming amount of paperwork Detective Héderváry had strewn about the coffee table.

"I had never seen Antonio act so suspicious," She said to herself more than she did Arthur, Detective Héderváry pursed her lips. "He's usually someone who just tells you everything," She hoisted herself up on the couch until she was sitting on the arm, she grabbed a piece of paper.

"We were apparently about to be thrown out of this bar because of this 'Braginski' family..." Detective Héderváry lifted more of the paperwork until she had a good stack in her hand. "So I'm doing some research, look for any charges that might imply they could-"

Arthur raised an eyebrow at her. "Please, I can't do this all on my own," Detective Héderváry told him, her voice soft.

"I don't understand why this couldn't have waited," He told her, not receiving a reply, leafing through the top pages on a stack of paper. Some of the papers were records actually from the station, yet some of them were clearly just recently printed out.

"I don't think Kiku sleeps," Detective Héderváry let out a puff of laughter when she noticed Arthur looking at the pages. "I had him email me some information on the Braginskis, probably more than I'm allowed but I'm not complaining." She lowered her voice, pointing towards her printer/copier. "I'm lucky Roderich didn't notice me printing, he uses that for copies of his music."

As if Roderich had heard, he walked back through the room.

"Good day, Arthur," He said, checking a clock near the television. "Er...morning."

"Same to you," Arthur smiled. Detective Héderváry smiled at both of them encouragingly.

"Sleep well," She said from her seat.

Roderich nodded, his mouth twitching into a reluctant smile. "Go to bed at a..." He checked the clock again. "-Relatively reasonable time."

Detective Héderváry nodded, laughing at him and mouthed relatively reasonable to Arthur, amused, Roderich noticed this and rolled his eyes good naturedly. He pointed at Detective Héderváry "Also, Liz, if you could get Arthur home before he dies of sleep deprivation-"

'Liz' laughed at him. "Yeah, yeah. If you don't get to bed you're going to die of sleep deprivation."

Roderich closed his mouth, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Okay, night,"

"Night," Detective Héderváry chirped, her tone a tad dismissive. Arthur waved at him.

"How was Alfred?" Detective Héderváry seemed in the mood to ask now.

"He was fine," Arthur snapped. "Probably annoyed with my sudden disappearance,"

Detective Héderváry looked apologetic. "Was it fun?"

"...Sure," Arthur replied.

"Like...romantics wise?" Detective Héderváry was grinning now.

"W-what are we doing, Detective?" Arthur lectured, knowing the answer but feeling a bit cross. She narrowed her eyes.

"Just a bit of work," She said, pausing. "And hey, we won't have to do it later."

"I give in too easily," Arthur muttered.

"You do," She replied without missing a beat, dropping a large pile of papers on his lap. "But you're already here."

Arthur nodded and rolled his eyes, pulling out his reading glasses. "I'll be sure to ignore your call next time,"

Detective Héderváry cracked her neck, yawning. "Your glasses are nerdy and make you look like an old person,"

"Just get on with it," Arthur tapped the papers in front of Detective Héderváry, and they started reading.

Three coffees and a couple hours later, Arthur set down the last of the papers. "I hate you," He told Detective Héderváry, before looking over and realizing she was asleep on top of her stack of papers. He took off his glasses and prodded her with them. She jumped.

"What time is it?" She groaned.

Arthur sighed. "Half past six,"

"Roderich will be getting up soon," She commented, sitting up on the couch and then lying down across it.

"I was just saying I hate you," Arthur divulged, yawning and running a hand through his hair.

"Right now I kind of hate myself," Detective Héderváry grumbled into the couch. "That was pointless,"

"It was, I've said that from the beginning," Arthur agreed. "But hey, we shouldn't have to go to work today,"

Detective Héderváry smiled, prodding his shoulder. "I like your tired self. It's much more fun when you aren't one hundred percent aware of what you say, Kirkland."

"Well, we are never ever-" He yawned. "Doing this again," Arthur paused. "To think we didn't find any worthwhile information."

"I know," Detective Héderváry frowned to herself. "Roderich is going to be pi-issed."

"About what?" A voice sounded from the other side of the room and Roderich appeared, and though he was still in pajamas he was far more put together than he had been a couple hours ago.

Detective Héderváry didn't seem surprised. "He's an early riser," She stage whispered, turning to her fiance. "We kind of pulled an all-nighter."

"I assumed as much," Roderich sighed, rubbing two fingers over an eye. "Don't tell me you're going into work today."

"I'm not," She replied, stretching.

Roderich looked at Arthur, smiling apologetically. "Do you need a ride home?" He asked, Arthur appreciated the sentiment but shook his head.

"Just send me along with some coffee and I'll be fine," Arthur held up his travel mug he had brought in with a stroke of good sense. Roderich nodded at him, and Detective Héderváry relocated herself next to him, resting her chin on his shoulder. He eyed her with mild annoyance, his expression endearing for the most part.

The lack of information Detective Héderváry and him had found on the Braginskis was suspicious. Usually you could find something on an entire family, the complete lack of anything was suspicious.

Incredibly suspicious. He had spent practically the whole night researching this damn family and all he knew was that they had all immigrated from different Soviet countries two generations ago. It might've been the exhaustion but that was all he could remember.

Arthur said goodbye to Roderich and Detective Héderváry, scolding her one more time before leaving.

He was too tired to focus on the Braginskis right now, he needed to get some sleep.


Kind of a slower chapter today, sorry. Lately I've been making important plans for this story. As in, for the first time ever, I know exactly where this is going (omg). These first chapters are fairly short and not over a long period of time, which is going to definetely change. I don't want this to be 100 chapters just because I had the time going so slowly, so be expecting things to pick up from here on out. I guess this is just a lot of stuff I needed to get into and now that I'm done with getting into shit things can finally pick up. So yeah.