Okay, this is the end of this story. This story ends, and I can finally concentrate on TWO stories. It's tiring, really. But your reviews always cheer me on. Please continue to read and review! Thank you for all your support!

FINAL CHAPTER

The professor let out a yawn, stretching his arms before his head, gasping in pain as he heard a familiar crack below is spine before falling to the ground, groaning in pain. " I just don't have the abs like I used to." He muttered to himself tiredly, getting up once more, switching off the air-con. He reached over to nudge Haibara awake when he noticed that she wasn't there.

He frowned.

Was she burning the night oil once more?

He opened the door, and smiled softly at what she saw. Haibara, once more, was asleep before the computer, her head rested on her arms. He walked over to her, shaking her lightly. " Ai-kun." He said. " Wake up."

She stirred, opening her eyes tiredly. " Oh." She said.

" Oh?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She shook her head, pressing her head against her palm, dizzy with the sudden sunlight. " Nothing." She said, getting to her shaky legs, and only with a huge effort managed to walk past the professor with her usual brisk walk. The professor frowned at her. " Are you okay?" he asked.

" Never better." She said in a voice that couldn't have tricked a three-year old. " I'll just have to wash my face. Gotta be ready for school."

" Stay at home." The professor said worriedly, rushing over to help her make her way to the bathroom. " What were you doing last night?"

Haibara jaw clenched.

" Just thinking about things." She said, before shutting the door behind her.

The professor bit his lip.

" Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

Silence.

" Yeah." She replied.

He would have reprimanded her if he didn't know her so well. He just nodded, and turned his heel, making his way back into the bedroom.

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" Good morning!"

" Good morning!"

" Ohio!"

Haibara dropped her bag on the table and dropped down to her chair, rubbing her head tiredly. She carefully unscrewed the cap of the tiny bottle, dropped one or two pills from inside and popped them into her mouth. She flicked open the cap of her water bottle and drank the almost half of the contents before resting it on the table, not even bothering to put the cap back on.

She was tired, and she was angry, and she was sad.

Because of one reason.

Three guesses what it was.

" Haibara!" came Conan's voice.

Bingo.

She looked up at his smiling face. " Morning!" he said.

She just watched him for a while before sighing. " I have the cure." She mumbled.

" What?" he asked. " Didn't hear you there."

She licked her dry lips and opened her mouth to speak. There was something holding her back from telling him. She knew she wanted to tell him. She knew she HAD to tell him. But something was drawing her back.

" I have the cure." She said.

Haibara looked away, not facing the steady, beaming smile forming once more on Conan's face that would have put the Grinch out of business.

" But," she said, and his smile faded.

" There's something wrong with it."

His face immediately regained its regular seriousness.

" What is it?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to speak when she heard a gasp from behind, and she and Conan jumped. Genta was holding the bottle of pills in his hand, pointing at the innards. " My mom told me something about this before!" he said, gasping. " It's called. . .drugs! I didn't know you took drugs!"

Haibara smiled softly and took it from them.

" It's called panadol, you clown." She said, and Ayumi and Mitsuhiko laughed as Genta blushed. Conan frowned as he watched Haibara. There was something strange about it watching her speak to them so openly. At the moment they were describing what happened on television yesterday and she was listening intently, her arms folded across her chest, a grin on her face.

He blinked and turned away.

He guessed he'd just have to wait until she told him herself.

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Kogoro and Ran and Eri were eating dinner, and for once Kogoro didn't have wine bottles surrounding him. Ran raised her eyebrows at her somber father and frowned. " What's wrong, dad?" she asked. " I haven't seen you touch a wine bottle all day. Is there something wrong?"

" No." he said flatly. " It's just that. . ."

Even Eri was watching him.

" I have a feeling that there's going to be a storm tonight."

Ran looked out at the dark, blue sky, and there was not one dark cloud in sight. Eri coughed and smiled at Ran. " So how's my little cupid doing? Are the two of them finally hitched yet?"

" To some certain extent, yes." Ran said, beaming. " I have done all I could do. Now all I can do is for them to make the moves."

Eri smiled.

Then she glanced at Kogoro.

" At least that makes more sense that a man who stares out the window, wondering all day if there would be bad weather that day."

Kogoro smiled.

" Not all storms have to do with the weather." He said.

Ran blinked.

Eri smiled knowingly.

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They had dinner.

Fish.

Rice.

Pleasant Conversation.

The calm before the storm.

Haibara was eating her food calmly, when she noticed Conan's eyes boring into her skull. She sighed and looked up, Conan immediately scrambling to get back to his food. " What is it, Kudo?" she asked, at the same moment the Professor walked back to the table, a carton of milk in his hands.

Conan dropped his chopsticks, glee written all over his face.

" You have the cure, right?" he asked.

" Right." She said.

" Well, give it to me!" he said excitedly, hammering at the table so hard that the professor spilled his milk all over the table. He paused for a while, blushing like the setting sun. Haibara sighed and got up from her chair, making her way towards the kitchen. " I'll get a towel." She said.

" Wait." Conan said, getting up.

She stopped.

" There's something wrong with it, isn't there?" he asked.

She didn't say anything.

" Haibara!" he called.

" Yes, there is, okay?" she yelled, turning around. Conan stopped, surprised by her sudden outburst. The professor walked past them quietly, making his way to the kitchen by himself. There was a sound of an ambulance that made its way past the house slowly, and they remained in silence until the sounds of the siren faded away into the night.

She watched him.

Goodbye, Conan.

" Come with me." She said.

She brought him down the stairs to the lab, where she fingered around inside the small toolbox found on the computer table. She pulled out two small pills from inside the box and placed it into his outstretched hand.

" Wow, I'm having a Matrix moment." He said jokingly.

She didn't even smile.

" The black pill is for you to turn back to your original state." She said clearly. " The red pill is for you to remain as you are. You may not think it serves any purpose, but the red pill removes any APTX from inside your body."

He blinked at the sight it before looking back up at her, mouth wide.

" What about you?" he asked.

She swallowed.

" What about you?" he yelled.

" I found the cure last night," she said silently. " It was far past bedtime when I realized that there was one cruel truth about APTX. The magical ingredient to the formulae was one of the most obvious things in the world."

He blinked, anger fading.

" What?" he asked.

" Water." She said. " Plain water. And that was why the rats died. In fact, it was a miracle that I had shrunk. Somebody up there loves me."

" What does this have to do with the cure?" he half-asked, half-yelled.

" When Gin gave the drug to you, as you said, he fed it to you with water. The water digested one-quarter of the acidic nutrients inside the pill and thus, able for you now to take the cure. It's that simple."

" My ass!" he said. " What about you?"

The professor had slowly shrunk back into the kitchen.

She let out a sad smile.

" That's why you've got to make a choice."

He blinked, once again.

" A choice?" he asked.

She blushed, looking away.

She didn't like to show emotions much.

But in this case. . .

" I love you." She said, and his eyes widened.

" And to tell you the truth I want you to stay." She went on. " But you belong to Ran. And I can't do anything about that."

She turned away.

" You either take it or leave it." She said. Tears threatened to flow from her eyes but she stopped herself. Stay, she begged. Please stay.

Conan looked at the pills in his fingers.

One held the black.

The other held the red.

He looked at Haibara's back.

He loved her.

But he loved Ran too.

There was a huge difference in both girls. From the way they smiled, to the way they frowned, from the way they did anything.

It was as a lightning faded across the sky when he knew.

He threw one of the pills on the ground, crushing it under his feet.

He walked away.

Goodbye. Haibara.

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Ran looked up from her food.

Shinichi?

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It was minutes before Haibara turned around.

Conan was not there.

She sank to her knees. A bitter smile fell upon her face. Tears fell down from her face. He was gone. He was gone. He was gone.

She desperately wiped her eyes, but the more she rubbed them the more wet her eyes became. " Kudo," she whispered. It sounded like a prayer. Begging for him. It was not like her to feel so attached to a person. She just couldn't believe being introduced to him once more, the two of them acting like they didn't know each other.

It was painful.

Both physically and internally.

She looked around again.

Conan Edogawa.

She felt numb.

Never ever so numb.

She bent down, her eyes almost digging into her knees.

" Shinichi." She cried.

She felt someone's gentle arm pat her on the shoulder and she looked up.

It was a kid.

" Conan?" she asked.

In his hand was the red pill.

Her eyes widened as he popped it into his mouth, tenderness in his eyes that she had never seen before. " You really like to act tough, don't you?"

Body numb, not knowing whether she would thank or punch him for making her scared and worried, her mouth opened and shut until he placed a finger on her trembling lips.

" I love you, Haibara." He whispered, before claming her lips to his.

Slowly, her movements returned to her as her fingers threaded through his hair. He was hers. Was he. . .hers? She pushed him away gently, a blush appearing on her cheeks.

" Kudo," she said.

" Yeah?" he said, grinning.

" I. . .I love you."

He smiled before pressing his lips onto hers again.

" Yeah." He moaned. " Me too."

EPOLIGUE

" So that's how it is, Ran."

Ran bit her lip.

" So you're sure you're not coming back?"

" Well, at least not for some time. But I'll try my best."

" Okay." Ran said, before her face brightened at the sight of Haibara. " Okay, Shinichi, gotta go!"

Conan smiled as he put down the phone, and walked out of the phone booth.

" Conan!" Ran said teasingly. " So the girl-friend you wanted me to meet WAS Haibara!"

Conan blushed and smiled at Haibara.

" Yeah." He said, scratching his cheek.

" Hello again, Haibara." Ran said.

Haibara smiled back.

" Hello, Ran-san." She said.

" When do you want to go buy dresses?" Ran asked. " I'm free anytime."

Kogoro hit his fist as hard as he could on Conan's head. " What's THIS, Conan!" he said. " You've got yourself someone at this young a age."

Conan raised his eyebrows at him, rubbing his sore head.

Then he grinned as he watched Haibara and Ran walk out the door with Eri behind them. So he would have to start a new life. But it wasn't like he was going to be alone. There was Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi of course. There was the Professor, never forgetting him. Heiji would still be there with Kazuha followed by a slightly unlikely Kaito Kid and Mouri family.

And there would be Haibara there too.

He took out the picture of Ran he had kept in his wallet for the past few years.

" Goodbye, Ran." He whispered, before tearing it up.

END OF FINAL CHAPTER

Well, how was it?

Soap opera fest wasn't it? Not really used to writing stuff like this. But I better get used to it because I seriously need to broaden my horizon. Okay, there was the end of one story. Just two more to go. Please read and review and thank you all for reviewing this story!