Another relatively long chapter done, I actually wanted to make it longer but it would have been another thousand words. The end is near, expect another chapter or two (or 1 + epilogue) but it will take 2-3 weeks for the sake of my grades. Anyway enjoy the chapter leave a review, a prediction or whatever.

"Kioshi, Kioshi" Emiko whispered as softly as possible while trying to shake him "Wake up!"

The boy slowly opened an eye, everything was dark in the living room where he was sleeping. Emiko's grandparents were already sleeping and if it wasn't for her he would still be at it.

"Hurry up!" Emiko was still whispering despite doubting to be heard.

"What?" The boy was really confused.

"Get changed now, no questions."

At this order Kioshi completely woke up. For god sake it's nearly 11! He followed her outside anyway, patiently waiting to get on the street before screaming "Will you tell me what's going on?"

"Sure!" Emiko waved to catch a cab. Never thought it would work...

The girl jumped in the car first ordering the driver to get them to the Sheraton Miyako hotel. Meanwhile Kioshi was giving her a death glare, taking notice of it she begged for one more second with a sign and turned to the driver "Do you speak English sir?" Seeing his confused face she knew the cab was a safe place to talk.

"The address you gave him... Was it your mom's hotel? Why are we going there this late?"

"Actually we might be running late and miss them."

Kioshi waved his arms all around "Who the heck are you talking about?"

"My parents" Seeing his perplex look she complied on giving further explanations. "Listen I know it may sound crazy or even impossible but not only I'm now sure my father is alive but I also found his identity. Are you still with me?"

"What you're saying is that your father pretended to be dead and hid all these years behind a secret identity... What is he? A spy?"

"It's Conan..." Kioshi was about to object but she didn't allow him to. "I know math, you don't have to worry about that. I am not good enough at chemistry to give you a logical explanation, I got the full details on my laptop if you ever want to try to understand. Anyway I now have the proof that Conan is my father, Shinichi Kudo" Emiko ended her sentence completely out of breath.

"Wow! That would make a pretty good movie plot in my opinion" He shook his head in order to give a more intelligent comment. "Does your mother know?"

"Even while holding the files I still couldn't believe it so if she ever had doubts I reckon they're long gone."

Emiko stayed deeply in her thoughts for the rest of the drive but was rather praying than really thinking. Once they made it to the hotel the girl quickly went to the reception to check if her mother had already made it back. Fortunately Ran was still out and the teenagers chose to wait in front of the hotel despite the weather looking worse and worse with every second.

Ran asked Conan to park in a further parking lot, she felt a strong urge for a walk. The woman had made her mind up. Conan suggested that he could drop her off. She had stopped resisting. When they reached the actual street Ran was holding tightly onto his arm. She was slightly leaning against him and could hear his steady heartbeat. It just felt good and from time to time she would close her eyes without even realizing it. Thus she only noticed the hotel when they were a couple of steps away.

"What now?" The question both hit them right there, it was the typical guy date a girl scene. They stood still in front of each other not knowing what to say nor what to do. Ran waited a while for him to move but in these modern times she decided that she had waited enough for two lives. "Well then..." she carelessly brushed a bang behind her ear, she took a step forward, another one and only a few centimetres away. She could feel her heart nearly exploding in her chest, that was enough she closed her eyes and aimed for the man's lips. While Ran was getting ever closer she felt him slipping away.

Conan took a step back "I can't..." The idea of kissing her was more than pleasant but it was unfair and he wouldn't allow it. Ran's face was completely red from the embarrassment, the only spot she dared to look at were her own shoes. "Ran you were right from the beginning..."

The intriguing statement made her look back at him "What?"

The man's hands started to shake "You were right... I... I am sorry. The day we met I lied to you and I don't know if I can really fix this. I am not the one you think I am, I am not Conan Edogawa."

"Conan I don't understand. What are you trying to say?" Ran took a step forward a perplex look on her face.

The first thing he did was take another step, then he put his palm in opposition to her and only let his arms fall down when Ran seemed to have understand that getting close wasn't a good idea. Conan looked up, taking a deep breath he tried to enjoy that last moment of peace. "Do you remember the stupid thing I said?" The question being rhetorical he didn't wait for an answer "At that time, in London it was the right thing to say but now I wished I said more than 'you're a tough, troublesome case' I just wished I said more..."

Ran was dumbstruck "Those words are... How could you?"

"Ran I'm sorry" for the first time since the conversation started he tried to come closer lending a hand to her.

"You can't be..." tears started to form in her eyes.

Conan knew he couldn't help it but he had to try. He placed an hand on her shoulder "Ran..."

"Don't!" She pushed him away and looked at him right in the eyes before slapping him. "Don't come close" she turned her back to him and walked in the building.

Looking for support Conan collapsed against the wall, not that he was surprised but he really needed to sit down and recover.

On the other side of the street Emiko was approximately in the same state although she was still standing. It was probably thanks to Kioshi who was supporting half of her weight. "Maybe we should check up on him?" he suggested.

"No... We're not supposed to be here. We should go home." Emiko's voice sounded weaker than usual, actually her whole body felt heavier than what it really was.

At first she just needed support but quickly Kioshi had to carry her. "Don't push yourself too much Emiko."

"Idiots" She kept on whispering the word as she fell asleep on his back. He managed to bring her back home, paying the taxi driver with all the money he had left. "Emiko you need to wake up now... I don't have the keys and you don't want me to search on you, do you?" All he managed to get verbally was a mere groan but at least she did hand him the keys attempting to stay asleep. The boy continued through to her room trying his best to be discreet with what seemed to be a dead body on his back. He opened the door and sat on the edge of her bed. "That's the moment when you're supposed to let go" he whispered softly.

However she tied her arms around his chest even tighter "Maybe you could stay with me." Clearly now she was awake, her voice's tone had changed. Late night Emiko was a completely weirder person.

What sort of proposition was that? Kioshi's face was burning red, he didn't dare to move an inch.

"I don't want to stay alone..." she continued slightly begging.

The boy needed to regain composure in order to answer something. "Emiko if we don't get changed back to our night clothes they'll know we've sneaked out..." She sighed and let herself fall on the bed feeling gravity as she never did before. Kioshi was thinking while looking at her restless face. "Alright if I give you 5 minutes to get changed and I get changed in the bathroom, do you think your grandfather will spare my life?"

It took her all her strength to straighten and open her eyes. She shrugged "Maybe..."

"Emiko!" Someone was shaking her right shoulder, she slowly turned to the annoyance [annoying] source and groaned. But despite the sound she produced the annoyance wouldn't stop. When she finally complied to open her eyes Eri was inches away from her face "You should shake Kioshi awake before your grandfather notices that he is in your bed."

Emiko fully straightened in a split second, she actually remembered asking him to share her bed despite risking other's miscomprehension. Her mind was clear enough to rationalize the situation, it was more than better to nod at what her grandmother said and do what she asked.

She did just that but before leaving Eri added "We'll have a discussion later..."

Kioshi ran to the bathroom before Kogoro had the chance to see where he came from. In the meantime the girl made sure to always chew something in order to avoid further talking with her grandmother till the bathroom was hers. Once ready Emiko casually announced that she would be off at the Kudos. Both teenagers left the agency at the same time but instantly split ways since right after a very polite goodbye Emiko ran away to catch the bus. It was way too early to discuss anything or even to walk all the way to her destination.

If she had taken one decision it was to stop interfering in her parents' lives, she'd probably mess it up even more. She could only pray for the best and also had her own preoccupations. First thing on the list was to actually get to know her newer grandparents while she could.

Actually she wasn't the only Mouri in the neighbourhood on that day, right after midday Ran also made her way on the same street. She took a moment to look at the Kudo mansion although she wasn't heading there.

The woman looked rather concerned, she didn't look much tired despite the sleepless night. She had cried, she had taken a long shower, she had lied down for hours with eyes opened to the point she knew any crack in the ceiling. Conan is Shinchi, it was a fact there was no way around it. She had doubted him before of course but yesterday was still a huge shock. At the time the only thing she wanted was to push him away but now she wanted or rather needed to know the complete truth.

Nonetheless Ran knew that she wouldn't be able to face him just yet. Instead she made sure to go to his address when he'd be absent and aimed for his ex-wife Ai, surely she'd be honest.

Ran stood a while beside the gates before pressing the call button on the intercom trying to reassure herself with the thought that maybe no one would answer.

"Residence Edogawa" Ai did answer, the intercom was perfectly working, the sound was clear and you could hear that the woman didn't hesitate at all before answering.

"Hi... It's Ran. Could I talk to you for a moment?" Ran's voice was almost as shaky as her body.

"I know it's you, I can see you... Come in I'll make some tea!"

The gates opened automatically, Ran made her way to the door and doing as the host asked she walked in the house. Directly changing to slippers was only natural as she kept the habit at home in London. She hung her coat and tiptoed to the living room. Ran took a good look around, it was so impersonal that it only took her two seconds to spot the wedding picture. She hesitated a while before getting her hands on it but couldn't resist in the end.

"Those aren't bad pictures, right?" Ai interrupted bringing the tea. She served it right away on the living room table. Ran just nodded and politely followed the host. She couldn't look at Ai just yet either and didn't dare to say a word. It was Ai who had to break the ice "What did you want to ask? And please don't be scared to ask I usually don't bite."

Ran gave a little sigh before starting "Well since Conan or Shinichi told me... I don't even know how should I call him anymore but whatever. It got me thinking tonight about you two, how back then you were both different from the other kids and since Conan is Shinichi... I started to wonder about you. Who are you Ai? If that's your name."

"Firstly you need to know that I don't really like talking about that... No that's not my name but my name doesn't really matter. It doesn't define who you are it's just a name in the end. Still you deserve to know... To sum it up I was on the bad guys side and by bad guys I mean the people who did this to Shinichi. It wasn't a choice but it happened to be so." Ran looked more confused than ever, Ai didn't know how long she'd be able to keep talking about the past, her legs felt like they wanted to escape on their own. The woman gave them a break and walked to the window trying to organize her thoughts somehow. "It was my fault, I created the drug which turned both of us in what we are." Ai quickly fought against herself and sat back next to Ran.

Ran took a long moment to think before saying anything, this was so much. "How old are you?"

Ai gave a faint laugh "A bit older than you."

"When did all of this happen?"

"Tropical land..."

Ran punched the low table "Of course! I should have seen that one coming." Ran then let herself fall back "How did he manage to revert back? I know he did, it couldn't have been magic Kaito all along."

"I did create an antidote, actually I created a few but he's taken too much to the point it could kill him. He reasonably decided to remain as Conan and I gave childhood another go."

"I feel so lost! I have no idea of what I should do with my life now and there's Emiko as well" She pressed both of her hands on her face.

"I know exactly what you should do Ran. You should talk to him" She gave her a gentle pad on the shoulder.

She sighed "I know I know. I just need time, as you may have noticed I am a bit confused."

"We're friends, we're just friends" Ai walked to the chimney, grabbed a picture frame and handed it to Ran. It was the picture of them on a hiking trip a little while after they got married, Conan was holding her shoulder while trying to pose and Ai was smiling shyly a pair of sun glasses hiding half of her face. "You might have watched the wrong picture, this one is more like it."

"This is a good picture as well!"

"Ran I'm his best friend, he's told me everything about you and his feelings for you. I never had a slight hope he'd ever choose me over you cause I knew everything. I won't deny that I tried to hold on to him when I first saw Emiko, I just needed time to think about what would be best for both of us and you already know the rest."

The women exchanged a long comforting hug, everything that needed to be said was said. Ran also needed time to think about what would be best. She came to the conclusion that despite the anxiety growing inside she'd have to talk to Conan. A part of her was even dying to but for now a larger part of her was worried over Emiko.

There was nothing better than a long walk back home or actually a really long walk back to her hotel but she wasn't 500 meters away when her mobile phone rang.

"Hi mom! I am on my way back to the hotel. Do you want me drop by?... Emiko? No, I haven't seen her today... Hmm did she?... No mom you don't have to worry it's just, you know she's western and I got this already..." She turned her head to peek in at the Kudos mansion yard, that's when she heard a small click.

"I GOT YOU MOM!" Emiko was waving at her from behind the bushes in the Kudos yard with her camera attached around her neck.

"Emiko is here, I'll call you back mom!" Ran hung up and opened the squeaky gates. To think that the last time she came here her daughter told her that Shinichi Kudo was dead. She breathed in, the pain was gone now and breathed out they'll be okay. "What are you doing sweetheart?"

"As you see I'm taking a few pictures." Emiko was smiling brightly at her mother, her face was completely red from the cold.

Ran took her right hand out of pocket and placed it on Emiko's cheek "Your mother never told you to stay in when it's this cold?"

"Says the woman whose coat is opened" she smiled even brighter showing a grin that reminded her mother of the old days Shinichi.

"What brought you here?"

"Surprisingly it was my grandparents. And you?"

"I was passing by..." Ran grabbed her daughter's shoulder and drove her to the bench. She cleared her throat trying to sound serious "So... Now you sleep with boys?" Emiko turned completely red, her body entirely paralyzed, she felt herself burning up and desperately tried to stutter something. "Hey hey calm down honey! I was kidding, you made it clear that you weren't ready for that sort of things. What I really wonder is... Why did you need to hold him for?"

Emiko was cornered, she couldn't tell her mother that she got her heart broken when she saw her parents hurting each other. The girl hid her mouth deep in her coat collar "I don't want to talk about it" her voice barely came out of it.

Ran raised her hands up "I see that you know your rights very well Miss." She bent down to catch Emiko's eyes "Tell me at least... Are you in love?"

"How is this supposed to be an easier question?" She finally stopped hiding

The mother kissed her daughter's cheek "You don't need to bother I already know the answer... Aw Emiko that's so cute!"

"Stop it mom please!" Emiko gently pushed her mother off.

Ran sighed , her eyes looking elsewhere "The more I think about it the more I realize that you're a lot like him... Just don't wait too long, okay?"

The car gates automatically opened to let a German sedan in, the car entered backwards and suddenly Emiko could feel her mother tense up. It didn't take more than a minute till Conan got out of the car and Ran completely froze in a stone statue pose. Emiko waited a second hoping she'd recover but she didn't. Conan politely waved at them and without further ado headed to his trunk. It was their chance, the teenage girl ran in at full speed leaving her mother dumbstruck, she placed herself in the kitchen where Yukiko was preparing dinner. The woman took a quick look at her and didn't bother to ask what made her rush in. Seconds later both women turned to the sound of a man clearing his throat, namely Conan who was carrying what seemed like an heavy box.

"Hey Yukiko-san, hmm I brought the stuff Yusaku-san asked me to. Where can I put it?"

Yukiko quickly checked her granddaughter's face, it was useless Emiko's poker face was perfect as she kept on looking outside. Conan and his actual mother tried to communicate by signs but they quickly gave up. As soon as Conan went back outside, Emiko crumpled her shirt with her right hand.

"Come on mom!" Emiko cheered between her teeth earning a smile from Yukiko.

Surprisingly Ran hadn't moved an inch, she was looking down making Emiko wonder what she could possibly be thinking. When Conan made it outside, she looked up at him perhaps he said something. They really did seem to be talking, no way Emiko would be able to read on their lips in Japanese but still she was dying to know. Conan went to the car trunk again, Ran was searching for something in her handbag, a small piece of paper which Emiko clearly identified as her mother's visit card. Ran quickly wrote something on it and handed to Conan. The man took it and placed it in his back pocket. Ran was still talking to him while he just nodded.

In a perfect choreography they both managed to avoid each other going exactly the same way. Ran first went in to say goodbye to Emiko and Conan dropped a toolbox in the hall. Both leaved in a similar relatively fast speed.

If only she could have heard what they said, her only wish was that everything would be alright. Maybe it was a bit too much to ask for a reunion but if she could at least get to know more officially her father that would be enough. At least she thought so, for now she was getting to spend time with the Kudos. They had lunch together, they had dinner together and Yukiko logically prepared a bed for her.

Emiko kindly accepted although she locked herself in the bedroom right after dinner, she wished she could have stayed in Shinichi's room but it seemed like Yukiko wouldn't allow it. She lied on her back for hours, in bed unable to sleep.

Why? Just why people can't say it properly? They love each other, I know they do. One of them has to go for it, just say "I love you"...

She rolled on her side before jumping off to get changed. Emiko took off her shirt and bra and tossed everything to the ground.

"She says that I shouldn't wait too long but how long has she waited herself? She is probably still waiting... I am not waiting, I won't say a word to Kioshi about my feelings so there's nothing to wait for." She sighed and crashed onto the bed "Why am I saying all of that out loud anyway?"