A/N: One shot about a Shakespearean quote from "Romeo and Juliet" and how Conan compares it to himself. Might confuse all of you who haven't studied it a bit. Please r n' r.

The Sweet Rose

By strawbeby

Rachel and Conan strolled down the park path on a simply beautiful beginning of summer day. Serena had left for the summer to become an intern at one of her dad's companies in the States, and the rest of the detective league had gone to a week long summer camp, a few hours away. Conan had said that he didn't want to go to camp and be homesick for the Moore Detective Agency and Rachel already had a "job" of helping her father out. It had been such a gorgeous day that Rachel insisted that Conan go on a walk with her, putting the nail on the coffin by the promise of ice cream.

"Look, Rachel," Conan said, looking over to the pond. "The geese have been let out for the year. Every year, the city boards them so that they would come back specifically to a specific pond for them."

Rachel looked over, and smiled. "Yeah, I've always loved those geese. When I was little, Jimmy and I would pack a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches then end up giving most of them to the geese. Then we would chase them forever, like we were in a hectic game of tag, trying to catch one. Jimmy did catch one once, but the goose cocked its head then bit him square on the butt." She laughed at the thought of how Jimmy's face looked when he felt the sharp pinch of the goose's beak on his behind.

Conan didn't look as pleased at the memory. Yeah. And I've hated being around them ever since. The geese had just reminded me of Rachel's fondness of them.

The two continued their walk in silence for a couple of more minutes until they discovered a secret little grove. All around were beautiful rose bushes and in the center was a elegant weeping willow.

"Oh, Conan," Rachel gasped at the wonderful sight. "It's beautiful!"

Conan could kind of see the beauty, but he couldn't really see why Rachel had such a fondness over it.

Some flowers and a vine like tree. Big deal.

But Rachel insisted on staying here for a while. She ran to the weeping willow which was perfect for laying in and climbed into it to just simply be there.

Conan walked around the edges of the rose bushes. The roses, being basically pink and red, were in full bloom, and you could practically hear them sighing in the sunshine, them being so content. He lifted a finger to touch the outer petals of one. Smooth. Silky. What he imagined Rachel's face would feel like, if he could ever touch it.

It was then that Conan remembered a quote from a play that he had to read in his old freshman English class. They had been studying a bit of Shakespeare and had read the play "Romeo and Juliet" in class. The main reason that Conan had remembered the quote was because Rachel had read it and those words stuck in his head like a gong.

"What's in a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet?"

Conan smiled, thinking that it had a strange resemblance to his own situation. Juliet was talking about Romeo's name, having to be one of her family's greatest foes. She had fallen in love with him at a party before hand, and the meaning of the sentence was that if a rose's name changed then the rose would still have the quality of itself, even with a changed name.

Conan thought about it, then picked the flower. He walked over to the trunk of the weeping willow to present it to Rachel. She had just thought that it was a sweet gesture from a little friend. "Thanks, Conan. I'll put it in my hair then we can go get that ice cream that I had promised you."

As they were leaving the little grove, Conan's head had one main thought in it. I mean, if roses can change their name and still be a rose, then why can't people?

/'

-

-'

-,