No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, there are actually more chapters of Hagane no Tantei... they just haven't gone through my beta reader just yet. In the mean time, I was looking for something else to work on, and I came up with this cute little oneshot. It's been a few months since I read "How Watson Learned the Trick", but I think I got the basic idea. It's tweaked, of course, for appropriateness with the characters.

Oh, and if you're looking for something else of mine to read in the mean time, I wrote a little contest entry (also in Detective Conan) over at digital dot twillusions dot com, which I won't be posting here. Go over there, take a look, make yourselves at home, join up... whatever you feel comfortable with.

Disclaimer: I don't own DC... never have, never will... or any of the Sherlock Holmes stories, for that matter.

Now, without further ado:

How Ran Learned the Trick

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"Take me with you…"

It was only a month and a half since Shinichi and Ran were married, but he was already back to work as the Sherlock Holmes of the twentieth century. She hadn't returned to her job yet, though, and came down the stairs and caught him just as he was pulling his jacket on.

He turned around and looked at her. "Huh?"

"I asked you to take me with you today… please?"

"Oh, um…" he waffled.

She started back up the stairs. "I'll be right back, I just need to get dressed!"

"Oi," he called after her. "You don't even know where I'm going!"

"Maybe not, but I have a general idea…"

He crossed his arms.

"Well, you're obviously in a hurry – three things show me that – you barely wolfed down breakfast and didn't clean up after yourself, you ran your fingers through your hair instead of a comb, and you were about to run out the door with your shoes untied. In addition to that, I heard the phone ring earlier, and you were talking frantically to the person on the other end. That means it was something important. Therefore, it must be a case, because where else would you be going at 8:30 in the morning?"

Shinichi held his hands up. "You caught me. I'm proud of you honey, that was a very well thought out deduction." He smiled. "There's only one thing wrong with it."

"What's that," she asked, her hands now balled up into fists on her hips.

"The conclusion."

She turned this over in her head for a second. "Okay, then… where are you going?"

His shoulders slumped. "It was supposed to be a surprise. That call was important; it was from Hattori. I'm meeting him in the shopping district in fifteen minutes. We figured something would probably happen, so we made sure to set aside a whole day." He matched her puzzled expression. "Have you forgotten what today is?"

"Of course not, Sonoko wouldn't shut up about…" Suddenly, she realized the truth. She ran back down the stairs and slung her arms around his neck. "Oh, Shinichi!"

He kissed her softly. "Happy Valentine's Day, Ran. I have to go now, or else I'll be late. I'll be back this afternoon, though, and be prepared for a nice dinner out."

"I love you Shinichi…" she said as he pulled the door closed behind him.

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End

A/N: total writing time - about an hour... I hope it's not too poorly written >.>