Sorry 'bout the wait, I hope this is worth it. Gabe starts putting things together as an outsider looking in, which means she's reaching realistic conclusions. Tell me what you think.

Mielikki and Hakuba were still standing in the same place as before, waiting for Gabe to come out. They were holding hands now and it felt right somehow. The two of them hadn't evacuated the premises like others, since they doubted Gabe would fail. Hakuba, while possessing a logical mind, had unmovable faith in the strange woman that had turned his life on it's head and doubted that she would die today. Mielikki, on the other hand, considered Gabe a constant in the world, something that would never disappear willingly. It was just as well that neither heard what Takagi told Sato, otherwise they would've lost hope. But ignorance is bliss as they say, and thus they stood there and waited. They were close to a TV-crew and would know if something happened.

They knew immediately when the bomb was defused. The announcer-lady was very ecstatic about it, as was Mielikki. Hakuba only smiled faintly, looking relieved. Hakuba never was one to openly or properly show his real feelings and instead put on an arrogant or cool air around him, as if the world was a stage and he an actor. They waited patiently for the three heroes to come out and after Gabe and Conan got away from the news crew Mielikki all but tackled her sister, causing the two of them to fall on the ground. Gabe didn't even blink when she was bowled over by her sister, she just laid there and stroked her sister's hair as she sobbed into her neck, as if there was nothing weird in laying on the ground in a public place, outside, on pavement. Nope, nothing strange at all.

A few steps to the side, Hakuba's eyebrow was twitching and he wanted to tell them both to stand up already but was smart enough not to interrupt the family moment. That was until Gabe stuck up her hand and looked at him in a way that said that if he didn't help her up that second he would regret it. Of course, being the gentleman he was, he helped the woman up while she was still holding onto her crying sister. If he did it in record time it had nothing to do with the fact that he found Gabe terrifying. Not at all. Hakuba could see that Gabe had something on her mind so he didn't talk to her and he could tell that was the best he could do at the moment.

Gabe was deep in thought as Mielikki drove them back home. She remembered her sister talking about this episode once, that was why she'd known she'd make it out alive. But that didn't mean she couldn't use the situation to her advantage, and she had, her sister had a boyfriend now, after all. But that wasn't what had her in such a state. Something unexpected had happened in that elevator. Conan had shared his deductions on a code she hadn't read or heard, but even that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was what Conan said to Takagi when he asked "Who on earth are you?"

Gabe had been ready to laugh at him and ask what the hell he was smoking when Conan answered "I'll tell you... if you really want to know... in the afterlife." as he spoke the light hit his glasses, creating the Anime-lens-flare-phenomenon that always happened when someone with glasses had to look cool or sinister.

But the lens-flare wasn't what was important. It was what the boy had said. Gabe knew now, Edogawa Conan was an alias. The question was, why? Why would a seven-year-old child need a fake name? Gabe started to go over everything she knew about the boy, hoping to make sense of things. Conan and Kudo are connected by knowing of the organization with code names after alcohol, the black org thinks Kudo is dead so Kudo can't solve cases or be seen by anyone. Conan appears when Kudo goes away. Conan is smart enough to solve cases adults seem to have difficulties with. Conan uses a fake-kid voice sometimes when talking to adults. Conan has gadgets and is behind "Sleeping Kogoro". Conan knows English and speaks it fluently. Conan is friends with Hattori Heiji. Hattori Heiji is also friends with Kudo Shinichi. Hattori can't keep his mouth shut and knows the secret. Whatever that secret is. Gabe wondered what her sister had meant by: "Hattori really should learn to say the right name by now."

Gabe hummed as she drew this all up in a mind map, ignoring Hakuba looking at her weirdly. Everyone looked at her like that when she did it and she'd learned to ignore it. She absently heard Hakuba ask Mielikki what she was doing, but didn't really pay attention whether Mielikki explained the strange habit Gabe had. She'd made up her mind on her next move. Even more time spent with the pint-sized detective.

There were many ways to sneakily be able to babysit the child, but Gabe had to congratulate herself on this one. Her sister had won a two-person holiday at an onsen, but due to her pregnancy couldn't go. Gabe had instead given the prize to the Mouris, saying her sister wouldn't want it to go to waste, which was true. Her sister was instead going to Tropical Land and was staying at a hotel there for a week with Hakuba while Gabe paid for it. They would, of course, be in separate rooms, because it would be awkward otherwise. It was better than going to an onsen since Mielikki would still be able to go on some of the rides. This meant that not only was Gabe left in charge of Conan but she also didn't have to divide her time between her sister and Conan. She did of course have to spend time with Vinski and feed the two birds, but that was easy.

Due to the fact that someone might call about cases to the Mouri detective agency, Gabe and Conan slept there. All of Gabe's cases were discussed over cellphone, so she didn't have that problem. On the third day of the "Parents are away, woohoo" period, as Gabe jokingly called it, a call came to the agency, though it wasn't a case. Gabe had made breakfast, pancakes, something even she could make, when the phone rang. It didn't ring for long, since Conan was nearby to answer it.

"Moshi moshi, Mouri detective agency." he answered in that childlike voice Gabe had told him to stop using around her, since it gave her shivers "Hattori?"

Gabe peeked out of the kitchen with an evil smile. She reeeally hoped Hattori was going to pay a visit. That way, if he really was a blabbermouth, she'd get hints about Conan's true identity.

"Tomorrow? Don't you think this is a little last minute?" pause "No, occhan and Ran-neechan are at an onsen." another pause "I'm being babysat by another detective, Ojanen Gabe. She's way better than occhan ever will be."

Gabe preened under that praise, minimal as it was, since they both knew how useless Kogoro actually was, not that Conan knew she knew. As Conan conversed with his best friend, Gabe set the table. She'd brought her sister's home made jam that had less sugar and more berries in it than the jam in stores contained and was healthier too. Gabe had no idea whether Conan liked sweet things, but she hoped he liked pancakes, even if they were a western breakfast. The first day Ran had made breakfast before she and her father left and the next day Conan had cereal, since Gabe wasn't really that good in the kitchen. She could survive on her own but there was a reason besides protectiveness that she and her sister lived together. It was because of her sister's cooking and baked goods. You grew addicted after long exposure.

Conan ended the call soon after that and sat down to eat, blinking for a moment before shrugging off the weird breakfast and proceeding to eat it. Gabe looked at him as he ate and thought of something.

"You know, I'm surprised you know how to use a knife and fork." she said.

Conan looked up from his pancakes, a bit hanging out of his mouth and Gabe had to suppress the "aww" that threatened to escape and instead shook her head with a smile "It took me a while to operate chopsticks without the food falling back down and kids aren't that coordinated in the first place, so colour me surprised that you know how to use a knife and fork so well."

Another piece for the puzzle, but not as important.

The next day the two of them were bored out of their minds, since they had to wait for Hattori and Kazuha to arrive. The two high schoolers were late by an hour already.

"Is this Hattori usually tardy or is this not normal behaviour?" Gabe asked as she scratched Vinski behind the ears.

"Usually Heiji-niichan just doesn't announce that he's coming, so I don't know." was Conan's reply "Though they said they had to stop somewhere before coming here, but that shouldn't be taking this long either."

Gabe looked up "Maybe you should call them."

Conan did, but the phone was shut off which meant no one picked up. Gabe was starting to get suspicious. There was no reason for Hattori to have his phone off, other than the battery being dead, but even then he would have called the agency by now.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Do you know where they were supposed to go?" she asked when Conan had to end the call the third time.

"Some guy called Kusukawa. Apparently Kazuha-neechan's dad lost contact with him after he said they had to talk about something, he works in a detective agency in Tokyo now." the seven-year-old answered, feeling frustrated.

Gabe let out an annoyed breath as she stood up and went to the phone "Well, looks like I'll be calling every agency in Tokyo until I find the one employing the guy, that way we'll get the address."

It took two hours of calling until she got the address, and even then they didn't know if it was the right Kusukawa. Luck was on their side, however, since Conan recognized the damp imprint on the door as the symbol on Hattori's cap. That, and there were two sets of slightly muddy shoe prints, a bigger and smaller set, which meant two people of either a different age group or different gender had been there and since Gabe knew that Hattori was coming with his female friend, it was the latter option. They also found out that Hattori had entered the place, since there was evidence of him using a pencil to colour a piece of paper from the memo pad, which they also did. They got a name out of it, but not much else, since Gabe could only make out three numbers from the phone number that had also been written on the pad, but since their paper had had another paper on top of it when it was originally written it was hard to read.

It hit Gabe then that they hadn't spoken since they entered the apartment. It was strange, how well they worked together when basic things were involved. With this at the back of her mind they went around to all the Ito residences in Kenbashi City. After nine houses Gabe was starting to get a headache and was grateful that Vinski had been so well-behaved the entire time. In front of the tenth house Gabe had to stop because she had a pebble in her shoe.

"I swear, whenever a pebble shouldn't be able to get into my shoe, there will be a pebble in my shoe!" she muttered angrily, knocking at the bottom of her left shoe.

The shoes she was wearing were a pair she'd bought a week before, so the soles weren't worn enough to not leave muddy imprints in the pattern that was on the bottom. She had no idea that the fact she'd been looking at the bottom of her shoes would be helpful, though she did notice that her shoes would leave the same imprints as the ones she'd seen at Kusukawa's apartment.

The one who opened the door of the tenth house was a plump lady with a lawyer pin. Or that's what Gabe thought it was at least, it had the classic scales on it after all. The woman also had a cat, which made Gabe keep a tight hold on Vinski's collar, just in case.

"Hi, excuse us, but have you seen two teens, a boy and a girl, who speak in Osaka-ben?" Gabe asked politely, even if something about the woman put her off.

"No, I haven't seen anyone like that."

Gabe noticed the footprints that only headed inside "Oh, do you have guests?"

"Not anymore, they headed home already." the woman answered with a smile.

Gabe's eyebrow shot up "Really? There are a set of footprints that are headed inside, but no matching footprints leading outside. I just thought you had guests, but now they just seem strange to me." she said before turning to Conan "Right, Conan-kun?"

"Yea!"

The woman quickly backtracked "Ah, those are from my jogging shoes. They were muddy so I took them to the bathroom to wash them."

Gabe looked at the woman incredulously There is no way this woman jogs on a daily basis. She thought. A quick glance in Conan's direction told her that he was thinking the same. Then she noticed the pattern the shoe-prints had. They were the same as the one her shoes had and her shoes were not jogging shoes, they were skateboarding shoes. No one who knew anything about shoes would get skateboarding shoes and use them for jogging. She also knew that Hattori wore the same shoes as she did.

Gabe tensed in realization before she let go of her dog's collar and stood up, she ignored Conan as she calmly ordered "Vinski, puskii." (attack *again, no good translation for this word)

Vinski sprang at the woman, who was startled and thus fell to the floor, not moving when Vinski stood over her, growling.

"As long as you don't move, he won't feel the need to attack." Gabe absently told the woman before she sprinted upstairs, where the footprints, though smudged, led.

She heard Conan behind her as she followed the faint marks on the floor.

They came to a stop at a hatch in the ceiling that could be pulled down by a chord. Since the footprints stopped abruptly just before it they were certain that was where Hattori was. Not waiting any longer Gabe yanked the hatch down and flew up the steps, just in case the woman had accomplices. She'd been right and since the ladder-steps had made such a loud bang she'd startled the occupants of the attic badly enough that she was able to tackle the thug holding a gun and pistol-whip him into submission. In another move she sprang up and kicked the man who'd been holding whom Gabe assumed to be Hattori by the hair in between his legs, causing the bastard to collapse on the floor, whimpering.

Gabe dusted off her hands and called "Clear!" to Conan, who hadn't even gotten halfway up the steps.

Conan poked his head up and blinked at the scene while Gabe took out a bobby-pin from her pocket and started to pick the handcuffs on Heiji and Kazuha's wrists "Call the cops, would 'ya?" she asked as the first cuff clicked open.

Conan asked in deadpan "Why do you know how to do that?"

Gabe didn't look up as she answered "Don't ask, and don't worry, I'll teach you how to pick locks too."

"Locks!?"

"Shaddup and call the cops."

Once Conan went downstairs to call the cops and, if Gabe's hunch was correct, knock the woman unconscious, Gabe had managed to free Kazuha and had to catch Hattori when the teen slumped forwards. Gabe didn't react and just held him as she picked his cuffs, even as she could feel the blood staining her neck. The teen was beat up and Gabe could see that it hurt him to even breathe.

Once he was also free of the cuffs she helped him stand up "Can you walk?"

The teen only nodded and with that Gabe let go of him and instead picked up the unconscious man who had been laid in front of the hatch and slung the man over her shoulders in a fireman's grip, straining only a little under the man's weight. She should probably start training more.

By the time they got to the first floor Gabe could see her assumption was right, the woman was unconscious on the floor while Vinski was sitting nicely beside her, tail wagging.

Gabe feigned ignorance and blinked at the scene "Huh, she must be really afraid of dogs."

It was both a pathetic and believable excuse, which was ridiculous but true. Most excuses in anime were ridiculous but believable and Gabe had no idea how or why. It had to be one of the unspoken and unwritten "Anime Rules".

It didn't take long for the police and ambulance to arrive and Gabe patted Conan on the head for his thinking, she'd completely forgot to tell him to call for one.

"And this is why you're my apprentice, because I don't have to tell you what to do all the time." she said with a smile.

Conan eyed her suspiciously "I thought it was because you needed practice with kids."

"That too."

Heiji watched bemusedly from where a paramedic was disinfecting his wounds and putting band-aids on his face. When Kudo had told him that the neechan, Gabe, was better than occhan would ever be he hadn't expected much, least of all this. She seemed stubborn and energetic and from the looks of it she loved dogs. The neechan's dog looked friendly enough and he doubted that was why the woman had fallen unconscious, he was leaning towards the stun-gun wristwatch Kudo had around his wrist. He watched as the woman talked to the dog, but Heiji couldn't understand a word of what she was saying. The very next moment his hand was grabbed and brought to the dog's nose. He jerked at that and blinked, not having seen the neechan or the dog move, since half of his mind was elsewhere, with Kusukawa, who was on his way to the hospital. Soon after the dog sniffed his hand it licked him, looking very happy.

"His name is Vinski, he's still a puppy so he's really energetic but he doesn't understand Japanese as far as I've noticed, but since he's smart I'm sure he will probably understand the language, especially since Conan is around a lot."

"Ha, so you're the neechan that's been babysitting Ku-ku-Conan-kun?" Heiji said, stumbling over the name of his friend.

"Yep... did they hit you in the head? Maybe we should check..." Gabe trailed off as she invaded his personal space and started looking for a bump on his head.

Heiji blinked, bewildered, as Kudo shook with suppressed laughter as Gabe looked at his head, she soon released him and started muttering in a different language before starting to ask whether he was dizzy, nauseous or feeling sleepy. He lost it when she finally asked, while holding up two fingers, how many fingers he could see.

"No! Stop it! I'm fine!"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back and caused Kudo to start laughing out loud, visibly delighting Gabe.